
BookJ^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



A BRIEF COURSE 



HISTORY OF EDUCATION 



BY 



PAUL MONROE, Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR IN THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION, TEACHERS COLLEGE 
COLUMBLV UNIVERSITY 
AUTHOR OF "A TEXT-BOOK IN THE HISTORY OF EDUCATION," 
OF "THOMAS PLATTER AND THE EDUCATIONAL RENAIS- 
SANCE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY," ETC. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

LONDON : MACMILLAN & CO.. Ltd. 
1907 

All rights reserved 



Two Cootes Rxelv*J ; 

JUL 17 lyo? \ 



^':^^ 



Copyright, 1907, 
By the macmillan company. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published July, 1907. 



J. 8. Gushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 



PREFACE 

This condensation of A Text-Book in the History of Edu- 
cation, issued in 1905, has been prepared to meet the demands 
of Normal and Training schools and of those colleges that 
have not sufficient time at their disposal for this subject to 
master the contents of a larger text. The great need in the 
study of the history of education has been the incorporation 
>. enough historical material to give body to the subject, and 
to indicate the relationship between history or social life and 
education. This Brief Course aims to avoid the tendency 
towards too great generalization characteristic of most texts 
on the subject, and to preserve much of the concreteness of 
the larger text by omitting many topics, especially those that 
demand a philosophical treatment such as most non-collegiate 
students are unprepared to give. Even in the abbreviated 
form, the volume contains more material than other texts on 
the subject ; but it is hoped that the use of this or any briefer 
text is but preliminary to the use of some larger one commen- 
surate with the importance of the subject. 

So far as compatible with this condensation, the text aims 
to retain the merits sought for in the larger one, namely : to 
suggest, chiefly by classification of this material, interpreta- 
tions such as will not consist merely in unsupported gen- 
eralizations ; to give, to some degree, a flavor of the original 
sources of information ; to make evident the relation between 
educational development and other aspects of the history of 
education ; to deal with educational tendencies rather than 
with men ; to show the connection between educational 
theory and actual school work in its historical development* 
to suggest relations with present educational work. 



vi Preface 

The methods of presentation of the subject are the same 
as in the larger work. Marginal notes and chapter summa- 
ries have been added for the convenience of the student. 
All biographical material, together with suggestions con- 
cerning types for further study, have been omitted, as they 
are accessible in the larger text. Should further material 
or further references be desired, recourse can be had to the 
Text-Book or to the Syllabus prepared to accompany the 
text. 

P. M. 

New York, May, 1907. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

PRIMITIVE PEOPLES: EDUCATION IN ITS SIMPLEST 
FORM 

PAGE 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PRIMITIVE EDUCATION . . . . i 

PRACTICAL EDUCATION i 

THEORETICAL EDUCATION 2 

Initiation ceremonies 3 

Educational meaning of the initiations 4 

THE FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PRIMITIVE LIFE — 

ANIMISM 5 

NATURE OF EDUCATION OF PRIMITIVE MAN DETERMINED 

BY THIS DOMINANT SOCIAL CHARACTERISTIC . . 6 

TRANSITION TO A HIGHER STAGE 8 

A teaching class 8 

Subject-matter for study 9 

Elaboration of method 9 

SUMMARY 10 

CHAPTER II 

ORIENTAL EDUCATION. EDUCATION AS RECAPITU- 
LATION: CHINA AS A TYPE 



THE SECOND STAGE IN EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 




II 


CHINESE EDUCATION 




II 


The written language 














II 


Chinese literature 














12 


Selection from Confucian text 














13 


The work of the school 














13 


Reading . , . . 














14 


Writing .... 














14 


Mastery of literature 














14 


Literary composition 














15 



viii Table of Contents 

PAGB 

The organization of education 15 

System of schools 15 

The examination system 16 

The method of Chinese education 17 

Changes in Chinese education 18 

HINDU EDUCATION 19 

JEWISH EDUCATION 21 

THE CHINESE AS A TYPE OF ORIENTAL EDUCATION . . 23 

SUMMARY 25 

CHAPTER III 

THE GREEK PEOPLE: THE LIBERAL EDUCATION 

SIGNIFICANCE OF GREEK EDUCATION 28 

Chief characteristics 28 

Concept of personality 28 

Education and life, then and now 29 

Limitations in realization 30 

PERIODS OF GREEK EDUCATION 30 

THE EDUCATION OF THE HOMERIC PERIOD . . . .31 

Ideals of Homeric education 32 

Social and individual elements in these ideas .... 32 

OLD GREEK EDUCATION OF THE HISTORIC PERIOD . . 33 

Spartan education 34 

Aim of Spartan education 35 

Organization of Spartan education ...... 36 

Content of Spartan education 37 

Moral training .......... 38 

Athenian education during the Old Greek Period ... 40 

Organization of Athenian education ...... 40 

Education in the family 41 

School life 4^ 

Public education 42 

Content of Greek education 44 

Gymnastics 44 

Music 46 

Reading, writing and the literary element .... 48 

Dancing 49 

Moral purpose of Greek education 5° 

The method of Greek education . . . . • . -5* 

NEW GREEK EDUCATION: TRANSITIONAL PERIOD . 52 

Character of the period 5^ 



Table of Co7ite7its ix 

PAGE 

Transitional forces » • 53 

The demands upon education 54 

The sophists 55 

Resulting change in education 57 

In content ........... 57 

In method ........... 58 

The results of the new education 59 

THE GREEK EDUCATIONAL THEORISTS 59 

The problem of the educational theorists 59 

Socrates 60 

The Socratic method 61 

Influence on method and content of education .... 62 

Plato 63 

Relation o) Plato's views to those of Socrates .... 64 

The Republic 65 

The laws 66 

Permanent value of Plato's theories 66 

The practical influence of Plato ...... 67 

Aristotle 68 

Formulation of the educational ideal ...... 68 

The method of education ........ 69 

Organization of education ........ 70 

Practical influence of Aristotle ....... 72 

COSMOPOLITAN PERIOD OF GREEK EDUCATION ... 73 

General Characteristics 73 

Spread of Greek culture 73 

The rhetorical schools 74 

Dialectic and philosophical schools 75 

The universities 76 

The University of Athens . ....... 76 

The University of Alexandria ....... 77 

FUSION WITH ROMAN EDUCATION 78 

SUMMARY 78 

CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY OF ROMAN AND EARLY CHRIS- 

TLAN EDUCATION 80 



CHAPTER IV 

THE ROMANS: EDUCATION AS TRAINING FOR PRACTICAL 

LIFE 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMAN EDUCATION . . 81 
Dominant institutions and the genius of the people ... 81 



Table of Contents 



PAGE 



Roman standards of judgment 8i 

Contribution of Rome to civilization ...... 82 

Roman ideals of education shown in their conception of rights 

and duties . 82 

Element in this educational ideal 83 

The practical education .84 

The home as the centre oj education ...... 84 

Biography as a means ........ 85 

Imitation as the method ........ 85 

PERIODS OF ROMAN EDUCATION 86 

PERIOD OF EARLY ROMAN EDUCATION 87 

PERIOD OF INTRODUCTION OF GREEK SCHOOLS ... 88 
THIRD OR IMPERIAL PERIOD: THE HELLENIZED ROMAN 

EDUCATION 90 

The School of the Litterator 90 

The School of the Grammaticus 91 

The School of the Rhetor 92 

Libraries and Universities 93 

Support of schools by the empire 94 

Educational writers during the imperial period ... 95 

FOURTH PERIOD: DECLINE OF ROMAN EDUCATION . 96 

SUMMARY 99 

CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF THE MIDDLE AGES . . 100 



CHAPTER V 

THE MIDDLE AGES: EDUCATION AS DISCIPLINE 

SIGNIFICANCE OF MEDI.EVAL EDUCATION . . . .101 

§ I. EARLY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION . 102 

THE NEW EDUCATIONAL IDEAL 102 

ATTITUDE OF EARLY CHRISTIANS TOWARD PAGAN LEARN- 
ING 104 

Attitude of Greek Christian Fathers tov/ard learning . . 106 

Attitude of the Latin Church Fathers 107 

EARLY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS 108 

Christian life a schooling 108 

Catechvunenal schools . . . 108 

Catechetical schools 108 

Episcopal and Cathedral schools 109 

§ 2. MONASTIC EDUCATION: EDUCATION AS A MORAL DIS- 
CIPLINE 110 

SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE OF MONASTIC EDUCATION . . no 



Table of Contents xi 

PACK 

ORIGIN OF MONASTICISM no 

MONASTIC RULES 112 

IDEALS OF MONASTIC LIFE AND EDUCATION . . . .113 

Asceticism an ideal of discipline 113 

Social significance of these ideals 114 

MONASTICISM AND THE LITERARY EDUCATION .114 

Study in the monasteries 115 

Schools in the monasteries 117 

Copying of manuscripts and the preservation of learning . .119 

The monasteries as depositories of literature and learning . 120 

The monks as literary producers 121 

The literary inheritance of monasticism : the seven liberal arts . 121 

Contents of the seven liberal arts ...... 122 

EDUCATIONAL WRITERS OF THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES . 123 

Martianus Capella 123 

Boethius 123 

Cassiodorus 124 

Isidore 124 

§ 3. THE CAROLINGIAN REVIVAL OF LEARNING . 125 

THE WORK OF CHARLES THE GREAT 125 

Alcuin 126 

Rabanus Maurus 127 

Joannes Scotus Erigina 128 

§ 4. SCHOLASTICISM: EDUCATION AS AN INTELLECTUAL 

DISCIPLINE 128 

NATURE OF SCHOLASTICISM 128 

PURPOSE OF SCHOLASTIC THOUGHT 129 

CONTENT OF SCHOLASTICISM 130 

FORM OF SCHOLASTIC KNOWLEDGE 132 

METHOD OF SCHOLASTICISM 134 

DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOLASTICISM 134 

THE GREAT SCHOOLMEN 136 

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF SCHOLASTICISM . . . .137 

§ 5. THE UNIVERSITIES 138 

ORIGIN OF UNIVERSITIES 138 

FOUNDING OF UNIVERSITIES 139 

STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION OF UNIVERSITIES . . 140 

Privileges of universities 141 

The nations and the university 141 

The faculties 142 

Governing body and other officials 142 



DEGREES 



143 



METHOD AND CONTENT OF UNIVERSITY STUDIES . . .144 



xii Table of Contents 

rKVB. 

INFLUENCE OF EARLY UNIVERSITIES 145 

§ 6. CHIVALRIC EDUCATION: EDUCATION AS A SOCIAL DIS- 
CIPLINE 147 

NATURE AND ORIGIN OF CHIVALRY 147 

IDEALS OF CHIVALRY 147 

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHIVALRY 149 

§ 7. CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES 150 

THE RENAISSANCE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY . .150 
THE FRIARS OR THE MENDICANT ORDERS . . .153 

INFLUENCE OF SARACEN LEARNING 154 

NEW TYPES OF SCHOOLS 155 

SUMMARY 157 

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 
DURING THE FOURTEENTH, FIFTEENTH AND SIX- 
TEENTH CENTURIES 159 



CHAPTER VI 

THE RENAISSANCE AND THE HUMANISTIC EDUCATION 

WHAT THE RENAISSANCE WAS 160 

THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY 163 

Petrarch as the representative of the new spirit . . .163 

The work of Petrarch 164 

Co-laborers of Petrarch 165 

MODIFIED CHARACTER OF THE RENAISSANCE IN NORTH 

EUROPE 165 

THE EDUCATIONAL MEANING OF THE RENAISSANCE . .167 

(a) Revival of the idea of the liberal education . . .167 

Fornmlalioii of the aim . . . . . . . .168 

New elements in education . . . . . . . .169 

(ft) The narrow humanistic education 170 

Elimination of elements from the conception of education . '171 
Ciceronianism . . . . . . . . . .172 

Character of the narrow humanistic education . . . .172 

SOME RENAISSANCE EDUCATORS 174 

Vittorino da Feltra 174 

J Early German humanists 175 

(Erasmus 176 

English humanistic educators 1791 

Roger Ascham .......... 179 

TYPES OF HUMANISTIC SCHOOLS 180 

The universities 181 



Table of Contents xiii 

PAGE 

Schools of the court and of the nobility 182 

The Furstenschulen 183 

The Gymnasien 183 

The English public schools . 185 

The colonial grammar schools 186 

Jesuit schools 187 

SUMMARY 188 



CHAPTER VII 

THE REFORMATION, COUNTER REFORMATION AND THE 
RELIGIOUS CONCEPTION OF EDUCATION 

WHAT THE REFORMATION WAS 189 

INFLUENCE OF THE PERIOD ON THE CONCEPTION AND SPIRIT 

OF EDUCATION 191 

Formalism in its results 192 

Humanistic content 193 

Institutional effects 194 

SOME REFORMATION EDUCATORS 194 

Martin Luther 195 

Philip Melanchthon 197 

TYPES OF RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS 198 

The universities 198 

Protestant control of hiunanistic secondary schools . . . 200 

The teaching congregation 201 

Schools of the Jesuit order 202 

Constitution of the order ....... 202 

Extent of influence 203 

Organization 203 

Preparation of teachers ....... 204 

Subject-matter of study 204 

Methods .......... 205 

Defects and decline 205 

The Port Royal schools ........ 206 

Elementary schools in Protestant countries .... 207 

The public school systems of the German states .... 208 

In Scotland .......... 210 

In Holland 210 

In America .......... 211 

Elementary education in Roman Catholic countries . . . 212 

The Institute of the Brethren of the Christian Schools . .212 

SUMMARY 214 



xiv Table of Contents 



CHAPTER VIII 

REALISTIC EDUCATION 

PAGE 

WHAT IS REALISM 215 

§ I. Humanistic-Realism 216 

THE CONCEPT OF EDUCATION 216 

REPRESENTATIVE HUMANISTIC-REALISTS . . . .216 

Rabelais 217 

Milton 219 

THE EFFECT OF HUMANISTIC -REALISM ON SCHOOL WORK 220 

§ 2. Social-Realism 220 

THE EDUCATIONAL CONCEPT 220 

MONTAIGNE VS. ASCHAM CONCERNING REALISTIC SOCIAL 

EDUCATION 221 

MONTAIGNE'S CONCEPTION OF EDUCATION . . .223 

The aim of education according to Montaigne is virtue . . 224 

The content of education 225 

The method of education 225 

SOCIAL-REALISM IN THE SCHOOLS 226 

§ 3. Sense-Realism 226 

THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SENSE-REALISM . 226 
SOME REPRESENTATIVES OF SENSE-REALISM . .229 

Richard Mulcaster 230 

Francis Bacon 230 

The educational influence of Bacon 232 

Aim and subject-matter 232 

Method 234 

Bacon's place in education . ....... 237 

Wolfgang Ratke 237 

John Amos Comenius 238 

Ptirpose of education ......... 239 

Content of education ......... 239 

Method 240 

Text-books . 242 

Organization of schools ........ 245 

The Great Didactic ......... 246 

EFFECTS OF SENSE-REALISM ON SCHOOLS . . . .248 

The real-schools of Germany 250 

The academies in England 250 

The academies in America 251 

The universities 252 

SUMMARY 253 



Table of Contents xv 



CHAPTER IX 

THE DISCIPLINARY CONCEPTION OF EDUCATION: JOHN 

LOCKE 

PAGE 

ORIGIN OF THE MODERN DISCIPLINARY CONCEPTION . . 254 
FEATURES ESSENTIAL TO THE CONCEPTION . . .255 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPTION 255 

STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE THEORY . .259 

JOHN LOCKE AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DISCIPLINARY 

EDUCATION 261 

Physical education 262 

Moral education 263 

Intellectual education 264 

Other classifications of Locke 266 

THE DISCIPLINARY EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOLS . . .266 

In England 266 

In Germany 268 

In America 269 

SUMMARY ............ 270 

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE FOR THE SEVENTEENTH AND 

EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES 272 



CHAPTER X 

THE NATURALISTIC TENDENCY IN EDUCATION: ROUSSEAU 

RELATION TO PREVIOUS MOVEMENT AND TO THE TIMES . 273 
THE ILLUMINATION OR THE ENLIGHTENMENT . .274 
THE NATURALISTIC PHASE OF THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY 

MOVEMENT 277 

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU 280 

DOCTRINE OF THE " NATURAL STATE " 282 

THE "EMILE" AND EDUCATION ACCORDING TO THE 

" EMILE " ■ 284 

Threefold meaning of nature in the " Emile " . . . . 284 

Negative education 286 

Education from one to five 287 

Education from five to twelve 287 

Education from twelve to fifteen 288 

Education from fifteen to twenty 289 

SOME PERMANENT RESULTS OF ROUSSEAU'S INFLUENCE . 291 

The education of natural interests vs. the education of effort . 291 



xvi Table of Contents 

FAGB 

Conception of education as a process 293 

The child the positive factor in education 294 

The foundation of the nineteenth-century educational develop- 
ment 295 

EFFECTS UPON THE SCHOOL 296 

In France 296 

In England 297 

In Germany 297 

Basedow 297 

The Philanthropinum 299 

SUMMARY 301 

CHAPTER XI 

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TENDENCY IN EDUCATION 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 303 

THE PESTALOZZLAN MOVEMENT 307 

Character and significance of the movement .... 307 

His life and works 309 

Influence of Pestalozzi on education 312 

The new purpose 312 

The new meaning of education . . . . . . .314 

Means and method ......... 316 

Influence on the general spirit of the schoolroom .... 318 

THE HERBARTIAN MOVEMENT 319 

Its relation to Pestalozzianism 319 

Life and works of Herbart 320 

Herbart's psychology 320 

Conception and purpose of education 322 

Herbartian means and method 3^5 

Correlation of studies 326 

General method 3^7 

THE FROEBELIAN MOVEMENT 329 

General characteristics 329 

Froebel's life and work 33° 

Law of unity the basis of education 332 

Development as the process of education 334 

Self -activity as the method of the process 335 

Influence of Froebel on educational practice .... 338 

Play 339 

Educational value of hand-work 339 

Nature study in the schools 34° 



Table of Contents xvii 

PAGE 

The kindergarten 341 

EFFECTS OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOVEMENT ON THE 

SCHOOLS 342 

Pestalozzian influence 342 

Herbartian influence 345 

Froebelian influence 346 

SUMMARY 348 

CHAPTER XII 

THE SCIENTIFIC TENDENCY IN EDUCATION 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 350 

CULTURE DEMANDED BY MODERN LIFE 351 

THEORY OF EDUCATION FORMULATED BY THE NATURAL 

SCIENTISTS 354 

Education, by Herbert Spencer 355 

Thomas Huxley 358 

SCIENCE IN THE CURRICULUM 360 

In universities and colleges 360 

In the United States ......... 361 

In secondary schools 363 

In Germany .......... 363 

In England .......... 364 

In America .......... 365 

The elementary schools 366 

In Germany .......... 366 

In England 366 

In the United States 367 

SUMMARY 368 

CHAPTER XIII 

THE SOCIOLOGICAL TENDENCY 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS . 369 

SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF THE WORK OF PESTALOZZI, 

HERB ART AND FROEBEL 370 

SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECT OF THE SCIENTIFIC MOVEMENT . 372 
EDUCATIONAL IDEAS OF POLITICAL LEADERS . . .373 

EDUCATION AS A PREPARATION FOR CITIZENSHIP . 375 

PLACE OF EDUCATION IN SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY . . .377 



xviii Table of Contents 

PAGE 

PHILANTHROPIC-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS FOR EDUCATION . 381 

Among the German peoples 382 

The monitorial systems of Lancaster and Bell .... 382 

The infant school movement 384 

Public school societies in the United States .... 385 
DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN STATE SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION 

— POLITICO-ECONOMIC TENDENCY 386 

Germany 387 

France 388 

England 389 

United States 391 

Early free schools . . . . . . . . -391 

The Educational Revival of the Early Nineteenth Century . . 392 

Modern state systems oj public education ..... 393 

THE INDUSTRIAL PHASE OF THE MOVEMENT . . . .393 

SUMMARY 397 

CHAPTER XIV 

CONCLUSION: THE PRESENT ECLECTIC TENDENCY 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 399 

FUSION OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIO- 
LOGICAL TENDENCIES 399 

CURRENT TENDENCIES IN EDUCATION 401 

HARMONIZATION OF INTEREST AND EFFORT . . . .403 

THE MEANING OF EDUCATION 405 

THE CURRICULUM 407 

METHOD 407 

THE PERMANENT PROBLEM 408 

INDEX i 



A BRIEF COURSE IN THE HISTORY 
OF EDUCATION 



BRIEF COURSE IN THE HISTORY 
OF EDUCATION 

CHAPTER I 

PRIMITIVE PEOPLES. EDUCATION IN ITS SIMPLEST FORM 

SIGNIFICANCE OF PRIMITIVE EDUCATION. — Educa- 
tion in its simplest form is found among the primitive societies of 
savage and barbarian peoples. Here one finds no school, no 
method of education consciously recognized as such, and only the 
slightest differentiation of a teaching class. And yet there is evi- 
dent the essential characteristic of the educational process — the 
fitting of the child to his physical and social environment through 
the appropriation of the experience of previous generations. 

In our own time society is so complex that one can with 
difficulty get a grasp of the true nature of the entire educational 
process and of its relation to social life as a whole. In the Character- 
primitive stage, where society is so simple, the general nature, '^^"^^ °^ 
purpose, method, organization, and result of education are more readily seen 
readily discovered. By such a study one may arrive at a better 
comprehension of later more complex stages of educational 
activity. 

PRACTICAL EDUCATION. —The training in the processes 
of obtaining food, clothing, and shelter — which are obligations 
possessing a very direct and insistent character for every in- 
dividual in primitive society — constitutes their practical edu- 
cation. Yet there is seldom, if ever, a direct, conscious process 
of training on the part of society. The necessary knowledge 



2 Brief Course in the History of Education 

is obtained by the child through imitation. In the earlier 
years this imitation is unconscious. The child in savage and 
barbarous tribes plays with miniature imitations of the imple- 
ments used by adults. His amusements and games are, simi- 
larly, but imitations of the activities of adult life. Indian chil- 
dren play with a log in the water and learn to balance and to 
paddle as the use of the canoe will later demand. The boys 
shoot at a mark with the bow and arrow; the girls make utensils 
of clay and play at the preparation of food. There are few 
games aside from such imitations. These few, such as a simple 
ball game, are merely imitations of the sports of adults. 

The second stage of this training through imitation is a con- 
scious one. Then both boy and girl assist in the activities of 
the adults, and must learn by imitation because the work is 
demanded of them. This demand on the part of the adult, 
however, is not for the sake of training the child, but for the 
result of the work. In the art representations of their social 
activities left by primitive people, there are to be found no 
evidences of any conscious training of the young by the adult. 
And in the study of those forms of primitive life that have sur- 
vived, few practical educational activities, save the two forms 
of imitation mentioned above, have been found by scientific 
observers. 

THEORETICAL EDUCATION. — Another phase of primitive 
life which occupies much of the time of the adults and possesses 
educational value for the young, is that connected with cere- 
monies, dances, and incantations. Such ceremonial perform- 
ances constitute the religious worship of primitive peoples and 
are necessary before a hunt, a military expedition, a harvest, 
the planting of grain, the storing of food, and, in fact, before any 
important social activity. Inasmuch as they contain explana- 
tions of the myths, legends, religious dogmas, scientific or in- 
tellectual beliefs, or historical traditions of the respective tribes, 
all such ceremonials have an educational function. Thus the 
younger generations are being continually instructed in the lore 



Primitive Peoples x 

of the past, — in that which constitutes the intellectua. :^.id 
spiritual hfe of these people. 

Initiation Ceremonies possess special educational value. Educational 
These are to be found with all primitive people. Usually there significance 
are initiation ceremonies for girls conducted by the women, as initiation 
well as those for boys conducted by the men. The latter, ceremonies 
however, are by far the more elaborate and more important. 
The greatest variation occurs. With some tribes such cere- 
monies are brief; with others they extend over a series of years. 
In all cases they are most characteristic at the beginning of the 
adolescent period of the novice and culminate in his admission 
into adult membership in the tribe. 

Voluminous descriptions of such ceremonies in many tribes 
are now to be found. The outline of the initiation as practiced 
by the Central Australian tribes will suffice as an example. Here 
there are three distinct steps or periods in the initiation which outline 
extend through several years. At the age of ten or eleven the °^ *^^ 

1 • • 1 1 1 rill initiation 

boy IS seized by a number of adults who are marked out for ceremonies 
this special work by the position which they hold in the genetic^ °^ *^^ 
or family organization of their tribe. He is painted with the to- Australians 
temic symbols, tossed up into the air, and severely beaten. A few 
years later he is again seized and subjected to mutilation. The 
form of mutilation varies: it may be a scarification of back or 
breast that will leave throughout life marks of identification; 
it may be a knocking out of front teeth, a piercing of nasal 
septum or of lips, or a loosening of the scalp by biting. The 
ceremony usually culminates in a smoking or burning over 
a fire. During the period of these ceremonies — lasting for 
some days — the youth is given little or nothing to eat. By 
hunting he must secure certain animals used in the ceremonies. 
Thus as an incidental part of the initiation he is trained to fur- 
nish food for the adults. The entire period is taken up with a 
variety of complex totemic dances and ceremonies. During the 

* Society organized on the basis of blood relationships instead of upon the 
territorial relationship of political societies. 



Brief Course in the History of Education 

ies he has a guardian to direct him, but for the most 
part he must observe absolute silence. The illustration given 
shows the concluding ceremony by w^hich the ban of silence is 
removed by the medicine men vi^ho have conducted the initia- 
tion. The third phase of the initiation follows this, after an 
interval of some months. It consists of elaborate dances and 
performances participated in by large numbers, often represent- 
ing several tribes, and sometimes lasting for several months 
with ceremonies every day. After this the youth is admitted 
into full membership in the tribe and henceforth associates no 
longer with the women and children. 

Educational Meaning of the Initiation. — These ceremonies 
possess first a moral value. Through the mutilations, the boy 
is taught to endure pain; through exposure and want, he is 
taught to endure hardship and hunger; through subservience 
to the performers, he is taught obedience and reverence for 
adults. He learns that he is expected to serve his elders and 
especially to supply the family, of which he becomes a member 
by marriage or adoption, with the necessities of life. In fact, 
to an observer these ceremonies seem to be largely for the purpose 
of continuing the dominance of the elders in the control of 
society. Thus they possess a social and political value. 

This second value is further revealed by the fact that the 
decorations painted on the performers are totemic symbols. 
The explanation of these reveals the history and traditions of 
the tribe. Thus, also, are explained the complex relationships 
of genetic society, .which constitute their politics, social order, 
science and religion, all in one. The dances and ceremonial 
performances have a similar purpose and are connected with 
their religious beliefs as well. In this they resemble in a crude 
way the early drama of the Greeks, the miracle and moral plays 
of the Middle Ages, and even the initiation ceremonies of modem 
secret societies. 

Their religious value is evidenced in the fact that the totem is 
the center of worship and that the characters in these ceremonies 




Thk Initiation of the Youth by the Shamans of a Cemkal Aubi kalian 

Tribe 




AMENOI'HIS III AND HIS DOUBLE 

From an Egyptian tomb. The double is the second figure, 
and appears even for the tablet which is supposed to contain 
the soul of the dead. 



Primitive Peoples 5 

represent totemic animals. Around such totems center their Religious 
rehgious myths. In the explanation of these is found a fifth "^^"^ 
educational function; for such myths contain whatever of in- intellectual 
tellectual and scientific explanation the savage or barbarian has 
been able to give of the operation of the forces of nature. 

A final value is to be found in the practical bearings of many Practical 
activities connected vi^ith these ceremonies. Under the direc- ^ "^ 
tion of the designated guardian the youths to be initiated learn 
the methods of capturing certain animals, the arts of making fire, 
preparing food, and similar processes of practical value. To 
primitive peoples, however, the significant feature of these ac- 
tivities is not the practical, but the religious; all such practical 
activity must be performed in a definite, stipulated way. Such 
distinctive methods of action constitute their rehgion. Reh- 
gion, then, does not relate to isolated phases of life, but to the 
most commonplace. The learning of these ways constitutes 
their education. But to understand fully the educational sig- 
nificance of such ceremonies, one must consider further, 

THE FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTIC OF PRIMITIVE 
LIFE — ANIMISM. — However diverse they may be in many 
respects, primitive peoples possess one fundamental bond of 
similarity. It is that interpretation of their environment which 
we call animism. To the savage and the barbarian, every stone. Nature of 
tree, canoe, dog, in fact, every form of material existence, 
whether animate or inanimate, possesses a soul similar to his 
own, — the so-called double. This behef is not the result of 
reflection, but is due to the fact that he does not differentiate 
clearly between his own existence and the existence of all 
other things, animate or inanimate. 

In his dreams he experiences with all the vividness of his wak- How ani- 
ing hours the excitement of the chase, of the mihtary expedition, develop ^ ^ 
and of other activities. This indicates to him that his spirit, or 
double, has been in other places, though his comrades convince 
him that his body has not moved. The trance, swoon, or other 
forms of insensibility, to which his hfe of force renders him espe- 



6 Brief Course in tJce History of Education 



daily liable, together with somnambulism, demonstrate further 
that the double may leave the body to return at will. Death 
merely indicates that the double is unwilling to return or has 
lost its way, and hence has taken up its abode in some other 
body or object. Rare cases of insanity, idiocy, or epilepsy fur- 
nish still further evidence that the body and the double are separ- 
able entities, since in these cases a foreign or hostile spirit has 
taken possession of a body not its own. To his dog, his horse, his 
canoe, his weapons of warfare and chase, he attributes a similar 
double. For does he not use them in his dreams? Do they 
not cast a shadow as he himself does ? And do they not at times 
seemingly thwart his will as if possessed of a hostile spirit? 
Therefore at death his horse and dog are killed; perhaps his 
canoe, even his wife, is burned, or his weapons and household 
utensils are buried with the body in order that their doubles 
may serve his double as of yore. To his spirit, offerings of food 
and other necessities of this hf e are made until the time when the 
remembrance of him is lost in the worship of the multitude of 
ancestral spirits that throng the air or inhabit the sensible objects 
that form the universe of the family or clan. 

Thus the primitive man explains the processes of the world 
around him; each material object, whether sensible or in- 
sensible from our point of view, is by him in his unreflective 
way endowed with consciousness. Through its double each 
feels and thinks and has the power of voHtion, as he himself 
has. The world of doubles is an immaterial counterpart of the 
world of material objects. Thus do ordinary processes of life 
and nature find their explanation; extraordinary happenings, 
in a similar way, merely indicate the intervention of such 
spirits, friendly if the occurrences are fraught with good results, 
hostile if accompanied by evil consequences. 

NATURE OF EDUCATION OF PRIMITIVE MAN DETER- 
MINED BY THIS DOMINANT SOCIAL CHARACTERISTIC. — 
The life of the primitive man is largely occupied in obtaining the 
necessities of food, clothing, and shelter. But these must be 



Primitive Peoples 7 

obtained in such a manner as not to offend the spirit, or double, 
that dwells in every object he needs for fuel or for building, in 
every utensil he uses in the preparation of food, in every weapon, 
and in every animal. Thus every desired end must be secured 
by activities following certain formal and estabhshed methods 
that are the outgrowth of the experience of past generations. 
The learning of these formal methods that will placate the spirit Such beliefs 
world back of the material world constitutes the most important ^e^conJent 
part of his education. Because it consists in becoming famiHar of intei- 
with the results of the experience of the past, this part of his spWtuaTedu- 
education is here termed the theoretical education, as opposed cation 
to the immediate practical adjustment to the needs of his environ- 
ment which grows directly out of the individual's own expe- 
rience. 

This belief in controlUng spirits, or doubles, and n. "S of Comparison 
acting so as to obtain desired ends without offending them has ^ith^Wgh^ 
counterparts in higher stages of social life. The early Greek stages of re- 
explained the action of physical forces by the dominance of a osophka^, 
multitude of special deities and sought to control the flight of an and scientific 
arrow or the course of a ship, to obtain the mastery of horse and 
chariot, through appeasing and thus controlHng the deities back 
of them. To the Hebrew this direct control of the details of 
life, of the harvest, of the plague, of the battle, of sickness, of the 
objects to be used, and of the processes of nature was in the 
hands of a supreme deity and was to be obtained by man through 
ceremonial worship and prayer. To the modem man the mas- 
tery of a weapon is to be obtained by a knowledge of the laws of 
physics; the preparation of articles of food so as to avoid noxious 
elements contained in the materials, by knowledge of certain 
laws of chemistry; the control of a disease, by knowledge of 
certain biological laws; the control of the harvest, by knowledge 
of certain laws of nature drawn from a variety of the sciences. 
The chief point to be noted is this: modem man assumes that 
there are such things as chemical affinity, molecular attraction, 
electrical current, for the same reason that primitive man as- 



thought 



8 Brief Course in the History of Education 



From ani- 
mism natural 
religions, 
philoso- 
phies, and 
the sciences 
have evolved 



Character 
of the 
earliest 
teachers 



sumes that there are doubles back of all material phenomena. 
By these assumptions each explains the relations which the phe- 
nomenal world bears to himself, and by a knowledge of these 
entities he seeks to control the forces and phenomena of nature 
for his own advantage. In both cases this control is obtained 
through a mastery of the symbols. These symbols may be the 
formulas of physical law, or they may be the totemic represen- 
tations of doubles. 

In other words, the initiation ceremonies, with the totemic 
dances and incantations which follow, give to the primitive man 
that explanation of the universe that will enable him to secure 
a satisfactory adjustment to its demands. This knowledge of 
the world of doubles and the animistic beliefs that are thus 
acquired, serve the same purpose that is served in more complex 
society by sciences, philosophy, history, literature, and religion. 
In fact, it is from these primitive animistic beliefs that the 
sciences, philosophy, and the natural religions have evolved. 

TRANSITION TO A HIGHER STAGE. —The characteristic 
feature of primitive education, then, is its non-progressive and 
imitative character. The primitive man seeks to adjust himself 
to his environment as he finds it and as the previous generation 
has done. He has little consciousness of the past as a form 
of life to be preserved, or of the future as offering opportunities 
greater than those of the present. He hves in the present ; hence 
there is httle tendency to change, and that is accidental. That 
"the least developed people are the most averse to change" 
is a well-established principle of the sociological sciences. Never- 
theless, through the various stages of savage and barbarian life 
some advance, though wholly unconscious or irrational, can be 
traced in the following respects : — 

(i ) A Teaching Class, — While the ceremonial performances 
are participated in by all the men of certain groups, yet they 
are usually under the direction of certain designated persons. 
Certainly the acts of incantation and of sorcery, which aim to pla- 
cate the spirits and obtain control over them through manipula- 



Primitive Peoples 9 

tion of symbols, are in the hands of a special class possessing 
unusual power over unfriendly spirits. These men are variously 
called shamans, wizards, exorcists, medicine men, or famihars. 
They form the earliest teachers. As the friendly ones in the 
spirit world become more numerous and powerful, the familiars 
develop into a priest class. At first this class is made up of the 
heads of the family groups; but as the duties of the father be- 
come more manifold and this worship of the friendly spirits be- 
comes more complex, a special priesthood is designated. There The priest- 
is now some instruction for the populace by the priesthood in ^od forms 
general, and a more elaborate and formal instruction of prospec- clearly dif- 
tive members of the priesthood by certain of their own members. ^^''^"^'^^^^^ 

^ ■' teaching 

These latter are the first professional teachers. For many cen- class 
turies teaching remains as a special right of the clergy, and for 
many centuries more education is supervised and directed by 
the clergy alone. Before this stage has been reached, however, 
primitive society has developed into the earliest phase of civilization. 

(2) Subject-matter for Study. — By the time a special priest- Formation of 
hood is formed, this interpretation of life or experience has ^'"^° ^^"" 

r guages 

become so complex and the ceremonial has become so compli- 
cated that it is necessary to commit it to permanent form. Hence 
arise written languages. These form the chief mark of distinc- 
tion between the barbarian and the civilized stage of social 
organization. For the priesthood, then, there comes to be a spe- 
cial subject-matter of study ; namely, the forms of the written 
language and the content of the literature. All early literatures Early reli- 
are consequently of a religious nature. Out of these, as illus- ^°^ ^^^^'f-' 

' ture the first 

trated by that of the Chaldeans and of the Egyptians, grow the subject- 
earlier cosmologies, philosophies, and sciences; on them are '^^"^^^o'" 
founded advances in the arts. This literary instruction — 
their esoteric learning — is reserved for the priesthood alone. 
For the multitude there is the exoteric instruction given by the 
priesthood. This consists for the most part in directions as to 
formal conduct and worship, — the " what and how to do " of action. 

(3) Elaboration of Method. — So long as education con- 



lo Brief Course i7i the History of Edtication 



Early educa- 
tional 
method, 
training 
through imi- 
tation 



Instruction 
added to 
training in 
education 
of the 
priesthood 



These char- 
acteristics in- 
dicate a 
transition to 
a stage 
higher than 
primitive 
education 



sists simply in learning from the adult generation or from a special 
religious class "what to do and how to do it," there is httle of 
method but training by imitation. This method prevails for 
a long time after the primitive organization of society has given 
way to the political organization characteristic of civilization. 
But with the formation of a special priesthood and the elabora- 
tion of a written language and a hterature, there arises the in- 
quiry, " Why should these things be done ? " For the priesthood 
itself this gives rise to instruction as distinguished from training. 
During the earlier stages of civilization this is peculiar to the 
priesthood alone. For example, schools for the people were not 
established by the Jews until a short time before the opening 
of the Christian era. The education of the masses was the prac- 
tical training of the home; the theoretical training — that in 
rehgious ceremonial — was by the priesthood. 

The education based upon a written language, given by a 
specially designated class, and including formal instruction as 
well as practical training, represents a higher stage in educational 
development than that found among primitive peoples. The 
earhest types of this stage are to be found in Oriental societies. 

SUMMARY 

With primitive peoples practical education is unorganized and is pro- 
vided for through direct imitation of adult by child. Theoretical educa- 
tion consists in transmitting to the younger generation the general body 
of knowledge or the animistic beliefs which constitute their interpreta- 
tion of life's experiences. This transmission is accomplished through vari- 
ous ceremonies. The initiation ceremonies are the most important of 
these, educationally. From animism develop the natural religions, early 
philosophies, and rudimentary sciences. With the formulation of these, 
written languages are invented, and a special body of knowledge accessible 
to a few is developed. This forms the subject-matter of a higher stage of 
education. Along with this there develops a special priesthood differing 
from the familiars or exorcists on the one hand, and from the common 
people on the other. This priesthood becomes a special teaching-class for 
all. As they organize to teach prospective members of their own order, the 
first school emerges. With the formation of definite curriculum, teaching- 
class, and school, the primitive stage in education is passed, and the early 
stages of civilization are reached. 



CHAPTER II 

ORIENTAL EDUCATION. EDUCATION AS RECAPITULATION 

THE SECOND STAGE IN EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 

is represented by people in the earliest stages of civilization and 
by those Oriental nations that still preserve the characteristics 
of early civiHzation. Consequently many historic systems of 
education are to be included in this stage. Since our interest 
is in historical evolution and not in the antiquarian study of 
details, we shall consider carefully only one system, that of China, 
with brief reference to others. For of all these systems, the 
Chinese not only is the most elaborate and of longest duration, 
but also offers the best opportunity for study in the present. 

CHINESE EDUCATION. — The Written Language. — In this 
second stage in educational development, formal education 
centers in the mastery of the language and literature. A brief 
explanation of the nature of the Chinese language will indicate 
why this is true in their case, and will serve as an illustration of 
the dominant characteristics of all such systems of education. 
/ The characters of the Chinese language represent ideas, not Chinese lan- 
sounds: it is an ideographic, not a phonetic, language. Conse- fj^^^f'"''" 
quently it has practically as many characters as it has ideas, many thou- 
Like the arithmetical digits, these characters have a meaning J^phs^"' 
primarily for the eye, not for the ear. Most authorities estimate 
their number, exclusive of obsolete words and synonyms, at 
about 25,000. Considering as totally different those characters 
to which a stress mark gives a different meaning, other estimates 
make the number 260,000. When it is remembered that this 
list is practically to be learned like our alphabet, even the smaller 
number presents an appalling task for the schoolboy. However, 
many of these 25,000 characters are seldom used. In fact, 



1 2 Brief Course in the History of Education 

the nine sacred books, which form the bulk of their educa- 
tional material, contain less than 5000 different characters. 
Again, it is to be remembered that there are six distinct types 
of handwriting — similar to the script, Roman, italic, black- 
letter, of the English. These are the ornamental, the official, 
the hterary or pattern style, the common hand, the running 
hand, and the angular style similar to printing. Of these forms 
several must often be acquired. But more important than this 
so far as concerns the schoolboy, it is to be remembered that 
this language of the school is practically a dead language and 
hence has little connection with that which he uses in his every- 
day hfe. Moreover, verbs have no tense, voice, or mood; 
nouns have no gender, number, or case. Since the meaning and 
use of a word are determined altogether by collocation, — by 
its relationship as shown by position or by stress of voice, — 
the very simphcity of the grammatical structure adds to his 
difficulty. The use, then, of a literary style, — that approved by 
scholarly standards, — is acquired only after years of practice 
of a most rigidly imitative character. 

Chinese Literature. — The character of the literature and the 
use made of it will indicate further the extent to which this edu- 
cation consists in the mastery of literary form. In addition to 
being a "dead language" — that is, not the spoken one — 
for many years, it carries httle meaning to the student. "It is," 
says Martin, "as if our schoolboys studied Latin alone, and 
were compelled to commit to memory the leading Latin classics, 
so that they could be repeated without a single error, and yet 
with no knowledge of what the words, much less the hterature, 
meant." 

The Four Books and the Five Classics composing their sacred 
literature are about equal in bulk to the Old and New Testa- 
ments. Their content relates wholly to external forms of conduct, 
similar to some portions of the Old Testament. There is seldom 
any formulation of general principles. These sacred texts are 
the productions of Confucius (551-478 B.C.) and of his followers, 



Oriental Education 13 

and form the basis of the fundamental religion of the Chinese, 
— Confucianism. While Buddhism and Taoism furnish a cere- 
monial and a rationahstic religion, Confucianism in a remark- 
able way unites social and political ethics with private morahty, 
and absolutely dominates Chinese education. The following 
brief selection embodying the highest ethical principle of Con- 
fucianism — that of fihal piety — illustrates its characteristic 
features : — 

Selection from Confucian Text. — " i. The sovereign and king orders the 
chief minister to send down his (lessons of) virtue to the millions of the 
people. 

2. Sons, in serving their parents, on the first crowing of the cock, Confucian 
should all wash their hands, and rinse their mouths, comb their hair, draw precepts con- 
over it the covering of silk, fix this with the hairpin, bind the hair at the '^^™i°gthe 

proper con- 
roots with the fillet, brush the dust from that which is left free, and then put jm^t of chjl- 

on their caps, leaving the ends of the strings hanging down. They should dren 
then put on their squarely made black jackets, knee covers, and girdles, 
fixing in the last their tablets. From the left and right of the girdle they 
should hang their articles for use: on the left side, the duster and handker- 
chief, the knife and whetstone, the small spike and the metal speculum for 
getting fire from the sun; on the right, the archer's thimble for the thumb 
and the armlet, the tube for writing instruments, the knife case, the larger 
spike, and the borer for getting fire from wood. They should put on their 
leggings and adjust their shoe strings. 

3. (Sons') wives should serve their parents-in-law as they served their 
own. At the first crowing of the cock, they should wash their hands, and 
rinse their mouths, comb their hair, draw over it the covering of silk, fix 
this with the hairpin, and tie the hair at the roots with the fillet. They 
should then put on the jacket, and over it the sash. On the left side they 
should hang the duster and handkerchief, the knife and whetstone, the 
small spike, and the metal speculum to get fire with; and on the right, the 
needlecase, thread, and floss, all bestowed in the satchel, the great spike, 
and the borer to get fire with from wood. They will also fasten on their 
necklaces, and adjust their shoe strings, etc." * 

The Work of the School consists first in the mastery of these 
language forms; second, in committing to memory the sacred 
texts; third, in the study of the almost innumerable com- 

* Miiller, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 37, p. 449. 



14 Brief Course in the History of Education 

mentaries on these texts, for the purpose of developing a hter- 

aiy style similar to that of the sacred writings. 

Reading is Reading. — For several years school work is devoted to com- 

oHor^^^T 'fitting to memory the characters of a series of six text-books. 

language The third of these, the Millenary Classic, will serve as a type 

of all. It consists of one thousand characters, no two of 

which are ahke in form or meaning, but which are arranged 

to secure both rhythm and rhyme. With the memorizing of this 

text a considerable portion of the characters of the language is 

mastered, but how complex the task when compared wjth the 

mastery of our alphabet ! It is true that the content of some 

of these texts consists chiefly of moral maxims, and that thus 

the child gets some guidance in conduct. This, however, is 

incidental. 

Writing, also, Writing is also mastered in the elementary schools. On 

!^o^^!!,L,.:°^,^ account of the number and the intricate nature of the Chinese 

mal mutation 

characters and the similarity between many of them, this is a 
far more difficult task than with us. Yet success in the hterary 
examinations depends to a considerable extent upon the callig- 
raphy of the contestant. Throughout the period of elemen- 
tary education, little or no relation exists between the writing 
and the reading. The characters the child learns to write he 
probably has never seen before, and they afford no assistance in 
his other studies. Only when the pupil reaches the essay-writ- 
ing stage, are the two combined. 
In the study Mastery of Literature. — Higher education is devoted to the 
mastery^r* Hiemorizing of the nine sacred classics together with many of 
formal liter- the Commentaries upon them. Here some mastery of content 
tibe ^ef ^ is necessary, but attention is centered chiefly upon the formal 
aim literary structure. The duration of this period of higher educa- 

tion is indefinite. It is terminated only by the passing of the 
governmental examinations which admit to official position. 
Thus it happens that many spend the greater part of a lifetime 
preparing for an office to which they never attain. Instances 
have been known of father, grandfather, and grandson partici- 



Oriental Education 15 

pating in the same examination — and hence engaged in the 
same studies. 

Literary Composition. — For the purpose of developing an An approved 
ability to imitate the formal literary style of the Chinese, Ji^'jJi'^'^y'ji^ 
many more commentaries on the sacred classics must be studied est attain- 
than are committed to memory. This ability is the final test "^^'^ 
of an educated person, and is to the Chinese the noblest achieve- 
ment of the human mind. To this devotion of an entire edu- 
cational system to the development of power to imitate in for- 
mal essays the literary structure of a dead language, a striking 
parallel is found in the Latin prose and verse composition of 
Enghsh and American schools of past generations. With the 
latter, however, it was but a means; with the Chinese it is the 
end. Moreover, there is an immeasurable difference in the 
content of the literatures which served as models of literary 
structure. 

The Organization of Education is twofold. There is, first, 
a system of schools; and, second, a system of examinations 
conducted by the state and serving as the controlling part of 
their educational system. 

Schools. — Elementary schools, wherein is mastered the cur- Schools nu- 
riculum as previously described, are found in practically every ^^erous and 

.-., f^ X- ./ y unsystema- 

village. Such schools are supported by private tuition, patron- tized 
ized voluntarily, and taught by unsuccessful candidates for the 
degrees or by those less fortunate recipients of the lower degrees 
who have found no office awaiting them. Schoolhouses there 
are none to speak of; school is kept in any vacant room of a' 
private house, of a temple or pubhc building, — most often the 
ancestral or Confucian temple, — or it may be in a shed, or in 
any covered nook or comer. School days are long and continue 
practically throughout the year. The schoolboy, as also the 
schoolmaster, is sharply separated from those of his own years but affect a 
and relationship. He must devote all of his time to learning, o^the^^u"^ 
and is disgraced by any labor or even by amusements such as lation 
fall to the lot of common mortals. Though the expense is very 



1 6 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Teachers 
honored but 
ill-rewarded 



Higher 
schools 



The three 
governmen- 
tal examina- 
tions for de- 
grees and for 
office 



Examina- 
tions consist 
of essay writ- 
ing in verse 
and in prose 



moderate, only a small number of children attend these schools. 
As but one in twenty of the children who do attend ever get 
beyond this elementary grade, and as a much smaller proportion 
ever reach the coveted degree with oflice attached, it is, from 
one point of view, the most wasteful system imaginable. For 
while it accomplishes the general social results desired, the 
educational effect upon the ninety-nine hundredths that fail is 
valueless. Furthermore, this education unfits them for par- 
ticipation in any ordinary occupation in life, except with loss of 
prestige. Thus most of them must turn to teaching, and, in a 
population where the struggle for existence is abnormally severe, 
the profession that is held in highest honor becomes one of the 
worst remunerated and the most burdensome. 

Beyond the elementary schools there exist in the larger 
cities numerous, or at least occasional, higher schools where 
students, through study of commentary and practice in essay 
writing, are prepared for the examinations. 

The Examination System is the central feature of the Chinese 
educational system. By it all students are tested; through it 
all public officials are selected ; for it all studies have been prose- 
cuted. Its prizes are the greatest offered in Chinese life. After 
the preliminary examination, there are three examinations for 
degrees, all of which are held under the auspices of the govern- 
ment. The degrees are those of "flowering talent," "promoted 
man," and "entered scholar" or "ht for office." The first 
examination is held once in three years in each district capital 
by the provincial literary chancellor; the second is held, usually 
some months later, in the provincial capital; the third is held 
at longer intervals at Peking and is open only to those who have 
passed the preceding examinations. 

These examinations consist in writing verse and prose essays 
on various themes taken from the sacred writings. The essays 
of the first examination must be completed in one day, though 
the contest is often repeated. Those for the second examination 
take three days ; those for the third take thirteen days. Each 




A Chinese School. A Boy " backing his Book 




Examination Cells and Official Pavilion at Chentu, China 



Oriental Education 17 

examination, successfully passed, carries its own rewards, in the 
form of decorations of dress and of the household dwelhng, in 
the right to honored places at feasts and public occasions, and 
in exemption from corporal punishment. From the unsuccess- 
ful candidates in the lower examinations come most of the school 
teachers; from the successful competitors for these degrees the 
minor officials are chosen ; from the successful competitors in the Rewards for 
highest examination are selected the chief officers of the empire, these e;ami- 
From those that pass the third examination a few are selected nations 
by private examination before the Emperor to form his cabinet. 
This examination carries no degree, but admits to membership 
in the Imperial Academy. On rare occasions the Emperor may 
select from these, still by competitive examination, the consum- 
mate flower of literary perfection of 400,000,000 people. Formal 
educational systematization can go no farther. 

While these examinations now affect directly but a small por- This exami- 
tion of the immense population of China, they set a standard of f^^°'^ ^^^r 

^ ^ _ ' -^ tern perpetu- 

excellence for all, and select, to rule in the present, those who ates the 
are best able to conserve the past, because of their knowledge ^^eak^f ^'^ 
of it and ability to imitate it. Chinese 

Some statistics of 1903 will indicate the extent of this system. ^^^'^ 
There were 1705 matriculation centers where the preliminary 
tests were held; 252 centers for the examination for first degree ; 
18 for the second degree — one, at least, containing 30,000 Number of 
examination cells or rooms; and one for the third degree. Only fo^Jj^^^g 
28,923 bachelor's degrees could be given to the 760,000 com- 
petitors; for the somewhat rarer master's degree, or "promoted 
man" examination, but 1586 competitors were selected out of a 
total of 190,300. Not to mention the million or more that were 
preparing for the preliminary examinations, there were 960,000 
men preparing for these examinations, of whom all but 1839 
were destined for failure. 

The Method of Chinese Education is that of direct and exact 
imitation. In the lower stages it is purely a training of the 
memory. "The object of the teacher is to compel his pupils, 



1 8 Brief Course in the History of Education 



School 
work is 
chiefly mem- 
orizing of 
text; method 
is that of di- 
rect imitation 



Imitation in 
essay writing 



OriginaUty 
or variation 
suppressed 



Chinese edu- 
cation is now 
undergoing 
radical re- 
form 



first, to Remember, secondly, to Remember, thirdly, and ever 
more, to Remember." The school of the Chinese is a "loud 
school"; each child takes the appropriate text and shouts 
aloud the passage until it is impressed upon his memory. When 
the assigned task is complete, he recites, or "backs his book," 
by handing the book to the teacher, turning his back, and re- 
citing the passage in high key and rapid speed, without any 
knowledge, necessarily at least, of its meaning. "The attention 
of the scholar," to quote from Smith, "is fixed exclusively upon 
two things, — the repetition of the characters in the same order 
as they occur in the book and the repetition of them at the highest 
attainable rate of speed." 

It would seem that the writing of essays, as the great out- 
come of this system of education, possesses peculiar merit, 
in that it is a test of ability or power rather than a test of knowl- 
edge. But this merit is in appearance only; for the ability 
is again wholly one of imitation. The one who can imitate the 
construction, the metrical form in poetry, the balanced structure 
in prose, of their sacred literature, is the successful theme writer. 
It is as though our whole aim in school were to develop the ability 
to write essays similar in form, structure, and sentiment to the 
Proverbs or Psalms. While the ability to imitate the form 
might without doubt be readily developed in the average boy, 
the degree to which corresponding ideas of an original character 
could be called forth can be readily imagined. Or again, the 
success of the average schoolboy of a few generations ago in 
rivaling Homer or Virgil may be taken as a similar criterion. In 
reahty the aim of the entire training is not to develop originality, 
but to suppress it ; not to develop creative power, but power of 
imitation; not to produce literary ability, but the ability of the 
clever versifier and parodist. 

Changes in Chinese Education have occurred in recent years, 
owing to the conflict first with Japan and then with the Western 
nations. In 1898 the Emperor, by edict, substituted a system of 
Western Colleges for the examination system. This action was 



Oriental Education 19 

too radical and was soon rescinded. In 1903 the Empress 
Dowager substituted examinations in Occidental sciences and 
languages for those in Hterary composition. These radical 
educational changes with others of a social character are pro- 
ceeding rapidly at the present time. 

EDUCATION OF THE HINDUS. — While the characteristic Causes of 
details of purpose, organization, method, and content of curricu- ^miis'of '^ 
lum of Hindu education differ from those of the Chinese, its their 
essential features are typically Oriental. The divergence in system 
details from other Oriental systems is caused mainly (i) by 
the caste system and (2) by the more philosophic character of 
Hindu sacred hterature. A partial cause of this divergence 
maybe found in the Aryan origin of the dominant class; but 
the racial characteristics were the result of the fusion of this 
small Aryan element with an overwhelming pre-Aryan popula- 
tion. 

While the caste system, as well as the educational system, has The caste 
been largely modified during the nineteenth century by English ^'^^'^'^ 
influence, it is the historic condition in which we are here in- 
terested. The Hindu castes are four: (i) The Brahmins, or 
priests: this class also furnishes all teachers, and controls all 
legislation; (2) the Kshatriyas, the warrior, or military execu- 
tive class; (3) the Vaisyas, or industrial class; (4) the Sudras, 
or servile class. Altogether outside of the Brahminical social 
organization are the pariahs, or outcasts. 

The Sudras and pariahs received no formal education whatever. * Education of 
The members of the warrior and industrial classes had access ^teg"^^^ 
to the literary schools kept by the members of the higher class,* . 
but never availed themselves of these privileges to any great ex- 
tent. A knowledge of certain portions of the sacred texts, 
chiefly the ceremonial, and a memorizing of briefer portions 
was the extent of the education gained by the members of these 
castes. A training of a practical and professional nature was 
gained through the traditions and the customs of the home 
and of the village community. These two institutions were 



20 Brief Course in the History of Education 

in reality the schools. But neither in the schools of the Brah- 
mins nor in the home or the village community did instruc- 
tion in reading and writing form a part of the education 
gained by most of the members of these castes. In a caste 
system, where the child follows the occupation of the parent, 
the necessary training is provided automatically by a universal 
system of apprenticeship. Not only training in handicrafts, 
but such practical knowledge of arithmetic or other subjects 
as was essential would result from the apprenticeship training 
given chiefly in the family. 

The elaborate literary education was reserved for he Brah- 
mins. All members of this class were supposed to acquire a, 
most minute knowledge of the sacred writings, and a general 
*■ knowledge of the literature and the philosophical beliefs of the 
Hindus. Through this knowledge of rehgious writings and ap- 
proved forms of conduct, the literary priestly class became the 
ruling class pohtically as well as socially and religiously. Theo- 
retically every member of the group must devote his life to such 
studies and to the appropriate accompanying activities. Practi- 
cally it was possible only for the most devout to follow the life 
of literary study and philosophical reflection. This literary 
ruling class in India differed markedly from that in China not 
only because membership was unattainable by any of lower class 
origin, but because, on account of its religious character, the 
enjoyment of the privileges of this life carried with it practically 
no obligation of immediate service to the community. 

Only through some knowledge of the Hindu religion and sacred 
literature can one obtain an understanding of this higher 
education and of its bearing, both in theory and in practice, on 
the development of the individual. The Hindu sacred writings, 
the Vedas, consist of four treatises, one for each of the three or- 
ders of Brahmins, and one for the guidance in conduct of the 
warrior or executive class. Each Veda consists of three parts: 
(i) the sacrificial formulas, mostly in verse; (2) instruction in 
the meaning and use of the former; (3) an abstract for the con- 



Oriental Education 21 

venience of the priests. The second portion of each Veda con- 
tains a section of philosophical reflections or suggestions, out of 
which has grown the Hindu philosophy, and the study of which 
constitutes the most important part of their higher education. 
The chief aim of Hindu philosophy is to reduce the multiplicity character- 
of the phenomenal world to unity; the aim of their ethics, to jsticsofthe 

■^ Hindu genius 

change the chaos of the world of conduct to harmony; and the 
aim of their religion, to escape from the transitoriness and suffer- 
ing of the present world into the peace and enjoyment of a life - 
to come. The solution of their philosophical problem is found in 
mysticism; of their ethical and moral problem, in asceticism, 
with its isolation from the activities, interests, enjoyments, and -^ — 

evils of the present life. Their religion asserts not only the im- 
mortality of the soul, but its transmigration through successive in- 
carnations, each dependent upon the character of the preceding 
life, and all subject to the evils and sufferings incident to this Hfe 
of mortals. All individual existence, then, is an evil, morally 
and religiously as well as philosophically. The ideal is to escape Hindu ideal 
from such sufferings, to terminate this process of reincarnation, °^ ^^ 
by the absorption of the individual soul in the world soul. Nir- * 
vana, which means extinction or may mean perfect peace, 
wisdom and goodness, is their ideal. This can be obtained 
only through extinction of individuality. Thus we reach the 
highest philosophical expression of the Oriental hostiUty to indi- 
viduality. 

JEWISH EDUCATION.— In one respect the Jews formed a Contributed 
marked variation from the Oriental type. In regard to the the moral and 

,,.. .,... .., religious ele- 

moral and rehgious aspect of hfe, far more opportunity for the menttomod- 
•*. development of personahty was given than with any other ern aviiiza- 
Oriental people. In this respect they contributed much to the 
development of Western culture. But in all other aspects of 
education, — school organization, school method, etc., — they 
did not vary from the Oriental type. In regard to schooHng Tardy de- 
they were not nearly so advanced as were the Chinese. In veiopment of 

•' ■' ^ educational 

fact, they did not possess schools for the laity until a short time system 



22 Brief Course in the History of Education 

before the loss of their national organization. Following the 
return of Ezra (458 B.C.), synagogues were gradually established 
in all the towns, and in them the law was expounded and reli- 
gious services were held. Thus in addition to the ceremonial 
law to be observed everywhere, and the temple worship to be 
participated in at Jerusalem, the Jews had institutions for fur- 
nishing instruction, chiefly religious, throughout the land. In 
connection with the synagogues there grew up the scribes, or 
expounders of the law, who were teachers, and who came to 
rival the priesthood in power. Later, from the second century 
B.C., minor officers of the synagogue began to teach the children 
during the week. After the Maccabean revolt (167 B.C.) such 
schools became quite general. Reading and writing, hitherto 
taught together with the rudiments of arithmetic in a few of the 
well-to-do families, now came to be taught in a pubHc school 
to the children of the masses. Soon after this period the Hebrew 
national identity, as well as national hfe, was lost, and their 
educational system never developed beyond these germs. All 
instruction of a hterary character, as well as all instruction of 
the people by the scribes and priests, centered in the law, that 
is, in the Bible and the Talmud. It is to be remembered that 
this law, mostly moral or ceremonial precept but containing 
more of principle than other Oriental sacred literature, was im- 
posed by external authority, either that of bibhcal revelation 
or of priestly authority. On the other hand, through their con- 
ception of personal Deity and their behef in close personal 
contact with Him and personal responsibihty to Him, which 
ever formed a permanent factor in the Jewish rehgion, greater 
emphasis was laid by the Jew than by any other Oriental upon 

f development of individuahty in this one respect. But the 
period from Ezra to Christ was peculiarly one of the exaltation 
of the law. The conception of moral and rehgious personaUty, 
obtained not under the law objectively, but in and through a 
higher law, was reached only through the Christian rehgion 
and through the rejection of the ceremonial law. This con- 



Oriental Education 



23 



ception was not clearly worked out till Jewish life came into 
contact with that of Greek and Roman, Hence this highest 
contribution of the Jews to education and to life, and that in 
which they differed most from other Oriental peoples, will be 
considered more fully in connection with the education of the 
early Christian Church. 

THE CHINESE AS A TYPE OF ORIENTAL EDUCATION.— 
Oriental systems of education differ much in detail. While the 
Chinese system is more complex and elaborate than those of 
other Asiatic peoples, yet in its main features it is a type of 
them all. 

As with the Chinese, so with the Hindu, the Egyptian, and the 
-Hebrew, education centered in the knowledge of a language 
, technically complex and difficult of mastery, and in the pos- 
session of the lore of the past contained in its literature. In all 
cases that literature related largely to forms of conduct and reli- 
gious ceremonial; and with the Hindu, the Egyptian, and the 
Hebrew it was the possession of the priesthood alone. If in 
China this learned class is not the priesthood, it is, as in the other 
cases, the dominant class in society. 

In all instances the masters of this literature are steeped in the 
knowledge of the past, and are especially interested in preserving 
traditional ways of action. So far as the masses of the people are 
concerned, their education yet consists in being told "What to 
do" and "How to do it." With most Oriental peoples the 
class into whose charge the conduct of the masses is committed 
is the educated priesthood; with the Chinese it is the educated 
office-holders. For the masses of the people there is no formal 
education. Their informal education consists of the training 
in conduct and practical activities given by the priests, the hterary 
governing class, and the adult generation in the home. For 
the chosen class there is a training in reading, writing, literary, 
composition, and in the exposition of literature. 

For the individual no variation from established forms is 
permissible. In most minute details conduct is prescribed. 



Literature 
the center of 
the formal 
education of 
the Orien- 
tals 



The hterary 
class is the 
ruhng class. 
Usually this 
class is the 
priesthood 



Education of 
the masses 
and of the 
ruling class 



24 Brief Course i7i the History of Education 



This dominance of some external authority is characteristic of 
all Orientals. In India this authority is exerted through the 
caste system; among the Hebrews, through the theocracy; 
in Egypt, through a combination of a priestly ruling class and a 
partially developed caste system; in China, through the system 
of Confucian education. Thus the Oriental is conscious of the 
past, as the primitive man is not; and he seeks to prevent any 
variation from it through individual initiative. 

The result of this dominance of external authority in their life 
and of the development of an appropriate educational scheme to 
carry it out is twofold. Society becomes stable, but remains 
stationary. Both materially and spiritually civilization is non- 
progressive. Thus it happens that in such societies education 
most readily accomplishes the purpose assigned to it. It is true 
that this stabihty relates only to internal forces; but when a 
people is isolated, like the Chinese, such an education is effect- 
ive for a long period. Neither individually nor socially, how- 
ever, does this education give power of adjustment to new 
conditions. 

On the side of the inner or subjective life, it is again the exter- 
nal and prescriptive that controls. All that belongs to the free 
spirit — the art, science, rehgion, education, of a Western peo- 
ple — is wanting, or tends to be wanting. In this the Chinese 
education is again typical. Art becomes external decoration; 
literature an effusive formulation wherein merit is in style, not 
in thought; science becomes occultism, and discoveries are the 
result of accident; religion emphasizes mere formal worship, 
in which there is often little room for free personality; morals 
are governed by traditional forms; education has no room for 
self-activity. If to these characterizations, as in the ethics and 
religion of the Jews, there are marked exceptions, such excep- 
tions at least indicate the all-prevailing tendency. 

Thus it results that among most Oriental peoples there is to 
be found an educational system of merit, often of long stand- 
ing and of most successful operation. Such systems show an 



Oriental Education 



25 



accurate correlation between purposes and results, and must be 
ranked high on such a basis of judgment. Comparison with more 
modern systems, however, must be instituted upon the basis of 
the purpose of education. 

The rapidity with which the Japanese have modified their 
ancient social structure and assimilated the culture of Western 
civihzation, chiefly through the adoption of Western education, 
indicates the extent to which the characteristics of Oriental 
society are due to the established education rather than to in- 
herent racial traits. 

The Oriental type of education aims simply to recapitulate 
the past, to sum up in the individual the life of the past, in order 
that he may not vary from it or advance beyond it. It aims to 
form habits of thought and action identical with those of the 
past, without developing any abihty to modify or adjust habits 
to new conditions. So far as instruction is added to training, 
it is without any rational basis. It is not instruction in the sense 
of seeking to interpret to the individual the meaning of a social 
custom. At every point education consists (i) in indicating to 
the individual what to do, to feel, or to think; (2) the exact way 
the act is to be performed, or the emotional reaction expressed; 
and (3) in constant repetition until the habit is unalterably fixed. 
This is education as Recapitulation, which is the second stage 
in educational development. 

SUMMARY 

Transition from primitive society to the earlier stages of civilization is 
marked by the substitution of a political for a genetic organization of society 
and by the formation of a written language and a literature. The political 
organization of society indicates that individuality is novv^ recognized and 
that the indixidual rather than the family or class is the social unit. The 
written language and literature indicate that society has now become con- 
scious of the past and of established forms of conduct and has discovered 
means of preserving these accurately. Formal education with these early 
or Oriental types of civilization is directed (i) toward a mastery of these 
languages, technically difficult, (2) toward a mastery of the approved forms 
of conduct embodied in a sacred literature, and (3) toward the imposition 



School sys- 
tems char- 
acteristic of 
Oriental so- 
ciety 

Transforma- 
tion of an 
Oriental sys- 
tem into a 
modern sys- 
tem by the 
Japanese 



\ 



26 Brief Course in the History of Education 

of such standards of conduct upon all the people. The last result is obtained 
by putting the control of society into the hands of the limited class which has 
mastered this language and Uterature and hence has a knowledge of the 
traditional and approved forms of conduct. To these customs the sanction 
of a religious significance is given. The class controlling society is the 
literary class, and usually forms the priesthood also. A system of schools 
results ; with China a system very elaborate and long enduring. Definite 
curricula and methods of teaching are evolved. But the suppression of all 
individual variation becomes the conscious aim and the actual result. 
The general outcome is a social order which possesses stability, but lacks 
all progressiyeness. 



* 



/' 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 



2^ 



Chronological Survey of Greek Education 





Poets, 
Dramatists, 
Orators, etc 




Writings Pos- 




Political 


Philosophers, 


sessing Direct 


Educational 


Events 


Sophists 


Educational 
Significance 


Events 


First Olympiad 776 


Homer flourished 


Thales . c. 624-548 


Iliad ... IT. 850 


Parental duty 


Dominance of 


c. 900 or 850 


Anaximander 


Laws of Lycurgiis 


in education 


Sparta . 750-600 


Hesiod . . c. 700 


c. 611-547 


c. 850 or 800 


in Solon's 


Messenian 


Terpander . c. 676 


Anaximenes f. 588 524 




Laws . 594 


Wars . 743-668 


Sappho . . c. 612 


Pythagoras c. 580- 500 
Heraclitus c. 525 475 




Origin of the 


Laws of Draco 629 


Thespis . . c. 536 




drama <r. 556 


Laws of Solon 594 


Simonides 556-468 


Anaxagoras c. 500-428 






The Pisistra- 


Pindar c. 522-^. 443 


Zeno, the Eleatic 






tids . . 560-510 


iEschylus 525-456 


fl, c. 460-440 






Laws of 










Clisthenes . 509 










Persian 










Wars . 500-479 










.Mienian su- 










premacy 479-431 










Confederacy of 










Delos 477-450 B.C. 










Age of 


Sophocles 495-405 


Gorgias . c. 485-380 


Thucydides' Peri- 


Protagoras 


Pericles 459-431 


Euripides 480-406 


Protagoras c. 480 411 


cles' Oration 431 


teaches at 


FWoponnesian 


Phidias . 488-432 


Prodicus . fl. c. 435 


Aristophanes' 


Athens . 445 


% %War. . 431-404 


Herodotus 


Socrates . 469-399 


Clouds . 423 


Trial of 


.Sicilian expedi- 


c. 484-c. 425 


Antisthenes 422-371 


Plato's Protagoras 


Socrates 399 


tion . . 415-413 


Thucydides 471-400 


Plato . . 420-348 


Plato's Republic 


Isocrates 


^jSnartan su- 


Aristophanes 


Isocrates . 436-33S 


■^•395 


establishes 


^^^Hfcremacy 404-371 


450-385 


Aristotle . 384-322 


Plato's Laivsc. 350 


a school at 


P^^Retreat of the Ten 


(Old comedy) 




Xenophon's 


Athens . 392 


Thousand . 399 


Xenophon 434-359 




Economics c. 380 


Founding 


Theban su- 


Menander 344-292 




Xenophon's Memo- 


of the 


, premacy 371-362 
Philip of Mace- 

aon . . 359-336 


(New comedy) 




rabilia . c. 380 


Academy 386 


Demosthenes 




Xenophon's Cyro- 


Founding 


384-322 




pedeia . c. 380 


of the 


The Sacred 






Isocrates' Against 


Lyceum 335 


Wars . 346-338 






the Sophists 390 




338 B c. Battle of 






Isocrates' 




Chaeronea 






Exchange of 
Estates . 354 




Macedonian 


Theocritus . b. 324 


Epicurus . 341-270 Aristotle's Politics 


Museum at 


supremacy 338 


Polybius 


Zeno . . c. 350-260 


f.330 


Alexandria 


Alexander the 


c. 20S-f . 123 


Chrysippus 280-207 




founded 280 


Great . 336-323 


Strabo 


Pyrrhon . . c. 330 




Euclid 


Battle of Issus 333 


c. 63 B.c.-c. 24 A.D. 






systematizes 


Alexandria 








geometry 


founded . 330 








f. 250 


Ptolemy I 










(Soter) 322-285 










First invasion of 










Greece by 










Gauls . . 279 










Ptolemy III (Euer- 










getes) . 247-222 










Agis (Sparta) 










r. 244-240 










Cleomenes (Sparta) 










r. 236-222 










Destruction of 










Corinth — Greece 










a Roman 










province . 146 










Egypt a Roman 










province 30 a.d. 












Plutarch 


Philoof Judea 


Plutarch's Train 


Imperial sup- 




C. 46-120 A.D. 


20 B.C.-40 A.D. 


ing of Children 


port for the 




Lucian 




c. 100 A.D. 


University 




c. 125-r. 192 A.D. 




Lucian's Teacher 

of Orators, 

Anacharses,etc. 
Gregory of 

Nazianzus' 


of Athens 
A.D. 69-79 
University of 
Athens sup- 
pressed 








Panegyric 379! A.D. 529 




CHAPTER III 



THE GREEKS. THE LIBERAL EDUCATION 



Opportunity 
for individual 
develop- 
ment 



Social prog- 
ress 



The liberal 
education 



The political 
aspect 



THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GREEK EDUCATION. — Chief 
Characteristics. — If the chief characteristic of Oriental edu- 
cation was the attempt to reproduce and preserve the past by 
suppression of individuahty, the great significance of Greek 
education is found in the fact that here first was opportunity 
given for individual development. Consequently progress not 
only resulted, but was welcomed and indeed striven for. Social 
progress was the result of the freedom that was allowed in their 
organization of society for the development of various aspects of 
personality — of personal achievement and realization — and 
of the esteem in which every form of expression of individual 
worth was held. As a result of these characteristics, the Greeks 
first formulated that conception of education which we yet call 
liberal. This is the education that is worthy of a free man and 
will render him capable of profiting by or using his freedom. 
More nearly than to any other people of the past, did the problem 
of education appear to the Greeks as it does to us in the nineteenth 
and twentieth centuries. There is no other period until the 
later eighteenth century that is so full of suggestion to the educa- 
tor of the present. 

Concept of Personality. — The Greek conception of man- 
hood, of fully developed personality, was quite as broad as ours. 
It was the Greeks who first worked out the conception of political 
freedom in and through the state, and the idea that education 
was to fit for this citizenship. To the Greeks we owe the first 
attempt to secure the development of personahty on the thought 
side. The love of knowledge for knowledge's sake found with 

28 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 29 

them its first devotees; inquiry into nature, into man, into the 
supernatural, here first was fearlessly attempted. With the 
Greeks, first of all, knowledge ceased to be the servant of the- 
ology and inquiry the special privilege of the priesthood. The 
application of the intellect to every phase of life was the task The inteiiec- 
of the Greeks; it was they who first strove to hve by reason, '^^^^pect 
They first formulated the conception of man as primarily a 
rational being. As expressed by Socrates, the duty imposed 
upon each individual was to know himself. Consequently on 
the moral side also, the Greeks arrived at the conception of per- The moral 
sonahty. Each individual found in his rational nature the sane- ^p^^' 
tion for determining his own ends in life ; and in his moral nature 
the conception of these ends as shaped by his own being. 
Through the reahzation of his own nature, each must work out 
the things that life is to be lived for; science, art, philosophy, 
religion, are means to this end, and are to be made subservient 
to it. Thus moral responsibihty and moral freedom, freedom 
under and through the law discoverable in one's own nature, 
were first conceived and applied to every individual by the 
Greeks. In one further aspect, the aesthetic, the Greeks deter- Thejesthetic 
mined the nature of personality. To them first and beyond all ^'^^'^ 
others was given the power of expressing a general truth in con- 
crete embodiment. For art is but the embodiment of some truth, 
ideal, or experience of universal validity in such concrete form 
as can be comprehended by all. 

Education and Life: Then and Now. — From yet another point Their aim— 
of view, the work of the Greeks was to determine the things in |^^"g h^p- 

' <=> pily and 

this life worth living for. Aristotle says that the aim of life is beautifully" 

"living happily and beautifully." And the best expressions of 

their civilization give us this knowledge, or at least indicate to us 

their reahzation of this high ideal. Add to this the one great 

element since added to civilization through the Christian religion, ideal of the 

and the ideal now formulated for our fife and for our educational i-^"^^'^LT 

ligion added 

process is but slightly more advanced. In this list — poHtical later 
freedom, intellectual freedom and attainment, moral freedom 



30 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Material 
achievement 
a modern 
ideal 



Standards 
of conduct 
in many 
respects not 
high 



Women had 
few rights 
and little 
freedom 



Tendency to 
the insincere 
and frivolous 



The Old 

Greek 
period in- 
cluded the 
Homeric, the 
Spartan, and 
the early 
Athenian 
education 



and life, aesthetic appreciation, and power of accomplishment 
— we have made but one great change, that of substituting 
material achievement for the aesthetic expression of personality. 
This change is not an unmitigated blessing nor an unqualified 
advance. 

Since the aim of education, as limited in the work of the 
American schools to-day, must eliminate the religious element, it 
can find no higher purpose than that of determining for each 
individual the things in this life that are best worth living for. 
Consequently no other phase of educational history has more 
significance for the student, or will better repay consideration of 
the means and methods adopted for securing this end. 

Limitations in Realization. — It is not to be understood that 
the Greek ideals were without their limitations, or that the 
Greeks were wholly successful in carrying them out. The reli- 
gious element in these ideals had little influence on many 
aspects of conduct. The ethical motive among the masses of 
the people was not sufficiently developed to prevent the tolera- 
tion of many customs abhorrent to modern times. The position 
of women was little above that accorded them in Oriental society. 
The privileges of personal attainment were restricted to free- 
men, and thus denied to nine tenths of the population. As indi- 
cated by the custom of "exposing" undesirable children, little 
feeling of compassion was developed. Moreover, the Greek 
versatility bordered on the insincere, even the dishonest, while 
their hght-heartedness often became frivolity and licentious- 
ness. However, had they realized in the concrete all that is 
worth living for, modem education would also be merely one of 
recapitulation. 

PERIODS OF GREEK EDUCATION. —The emphasis placed 
upon personality by the Greeks and the opportunity given for 
its exercise were both matters of growth. The generally recog- 
nized division of Greek education is that into the Old and the 
New Greek periods, with the division point at the Periclean Age 
or the middle of the fifth century B.C. The Old Greek period 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 31 

is divided into, first, the Homeric Age and, second, the historic 
period, including both the Spartan and the early Athenian 
types. In all of these the dominant emphasis was on the social 
and institutional rather than on the individualistic aspect of 
education. 

The New Greek period included, first, the period of transi- The New 
tion in educational, rehgious and moral ideas during and follow- p^eeii educa- 

' o '^ tion included 

ing the Age of Pericles. This is the period in which the new the period of 
philosophical thought was developed, and the new educational and^the"^ 
practices were shaped. The second of these subperiods ex- nod of cos- 
tended from the Macedonian conquest (toward the close of the ^g and^du- 
fourth century B.C.) until Greek culture was thoroughly fused cation 
with Roman life. By the time of the opening of this last sub- 
period, the philosophical schools had been definitely formulated, 
and during the period they were organized into the University 
of Athens. In her intellectual life Greece now became cosmo- 
politan and ceased to have distinctive characteristics aside from 
the philosophical schools. 

THE EDUCATION OF THE HOMERIC PERIOD contained An unor- 
the germs of all the subsequent development, but it possessed ga^'j'zedso- 

° 1 r- J I- (-la^j process, 

no specific institutional organization, method or control. It as with all 
v/as an education that consisted essentially in a training in defi- p""^}'^^^ 

-^ o people 

nite, practical activities with little or no place for instruction of 

a literary character. As the Homeric Greeks were just passing 

from the higher stage of barbarism into that of civilization, their 

education is similar in principle to that described in Chapter I. 

The training for the humbler needs of life was given at home. The home 

That for life's higher duties — those of general public service — ^"^ "^f 

o Q f counal were 

was received in the council, in war and in marauding expeditions, the chief 
In fact, the council formed the nearest approach to an educational ^ns"tkutk!!is 
institution that they possessed. The Homeric ideal, however, 
contained the germ of development. It included the twofold The man 
ideal of the man of action and the man of wisdom. The former °^ ^^1'°'^ 

and the man 

was typified by Achilles, the latter by Odysseus. While these of wisdom 
ideals were developed most highly in separate types, both wis 



as ideals 



32 Brief Course in the History of Education 



These ideals 

permanent 

ones 

Bravery and 
reverence, the 
characteris- 
tics of the 
man of action 



Wisdom and 
temperance, 
the virtues 
of the man 
of council 



dom and power of action were to be attained by each free GreeL 
Phoenix says of his instruction of Achilles : — 

"In all which I was set by him to instruct thee as my son, 
That thou mightst speak, when speech was fit, and do when deeds were 

done; 
Not sit as dumb for want of words; idle, for skill to move." 

This union of thought and conduct in a life of action guided by 
reason remains the Greek ideal even as formulated in the later 
philosophical stage. 

Ideals of Homeric Education. — These ideals contained several 
elements, each of which tended to develop during the later 
periods. The primary virtue of the man of action, the warrior, 
was that of bravery. Bravery, however, was to be tempered by 
reverence. The man who had no fear, like the man who had no 
sense of shame or modesty in his dealings with his companions 
or who was insolent in his attitude toward the gods or his elders, 
was guilty of irreverence. That is, he lacked proper balance in 
his action. 

The Greeks w^re far more sensitive to fine distinctions of all 
kinds than any other people. This they revealed in music, in 
sculpture, in architecture and in hterature. So, also, in regard 
to physical pain and in matters of conduct, a proportion or har- 
mony, an avoidance of extremes, was the ideal. 

The primary virtue of the man of council was good practical 
judgment in advancing his own material welfare, and in the ser- 
vice of the tribe or the community. 

The other side of this ideal of wisdom was the Greek whole- 
mindedness. In order that good judgment be exercised, it was 
necessary that the desires and passions be brought under control. 
This control of the appetites by reason is the temperance, or 
whole-mindedness, of the man of wisdom; it is the balance, or 
harmony, in thought that corresponds to the balance in action 
demanded by their ideal of reverence. 

Social and Individual Elements in these Ideals. — Now while 
these ideals, both of wisdom and of action, were dominantly 



The Greeks. The Liberal EducatioJi 33 

social, yet large scope for individuality was permitted. The 
attainment of these ideals, especially in the aspects of reverence 
and whole-mindedness or free moral personality, was made 
more definite and brought into far higher rehef than in the 
primitive stages of civilization of any other people except the 
Hebrews. 

THE OLD GREEK EDUCATION OF THE HISTORIC PE- The city 
RIOD was determined in its character and its orsranization by ^tatethe 

^ ■' dominant 

the dominant social institution, the city state. This institution, institution 
as the outgrowth of the tribe and council of the Homeric period, 
furnished the ideals and the basis of education, as did the family 
with the Chinese and the theocracy with the Hebrews. 

Membership in the city state was at first limited to members 
of the old ruling families of the tribe, who alone, in the Aristo- 
tehan phrase, possessed "ancient wealth and worth." This 
privilege, however, entailed many duties. 

As the head of a family, the Greek citizen had to perform Duties of 
the duties of a husband, a father, a priest, an owner of slaves, ^tizen^ 
As a member of the village community, he added to these the 
duties connected with property, communal and family, and the 
elementary duties of government; as a member of a phratry, 
he added duties of a religious character; as a member of a 
tribe, duties of a mihtary and pohtical character. With the 
formation of the city state he added an expanding group of 
administrative and judicial obligations and certain others of a 
wholly new character now to be noted. 

In time there evolved, especially among the Ionian Greeks, The ideal 
an ideal of worth, or nobility, more largely spiritual than had pre- virtue^e°'^ 
viously been attained. As the ideal became immaterial, its comes spirit- 
attainment depended more and more upon the exertion of the henremore 
individual. Admission to the chosen class was thus rendered individual 
possible for those not members of the ancient ruling families. 
According to this ideal, service to the state and superiority 
to the barbarians and the low-born could be shown only by 
attainment in those interests in life w^hich the Greeks considered 



34 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Worth, or 
superiority, 
now more 
largely intel- 
lectual, 
aesthetic 
and moral 



To produce 
such worth 
in the indi- 
vidual was 
the new aim 
of education 



With Sparta 
the early 
ideals were 
formulated 
into a system 
of education 
which per- 
sisted 
throughout 
the period of 
her national 
existence 



Influence of 
the natural 
environment 
and of the 
social and 
historic situa- 
tion 



under the peculiar protection of the Muses — the fine arts, 
the sciences and philosophy. Nobility now became worth, or 
virtue, in the spiritual sense as well as in the more practical 
material sense. Ancient wealth and worth in the sense of 
property and birth were now considered not so much the essen- 
tial elements of nobihty, as presuppositions to the more spiritual- 
ized forms of wealth and worth. As Aristotle expressed the 
contrast, the aim of tribal and village organization is mere 
living, that of the city state is the good life. Worth in this sense 
could be attained and could be lost; and it was to be main- 
tained at all times solely by a striving that not only was of ser- 
vice to the state, but produced, as the essential feature of the 
process, the development of free and clearly defined person- 
ality. This conception of nobility, or worth, was the bond which 
held the city state together, gave it its superiority, and, at the 
same time, became the ideal attainable in the life of every citi- 
zen. To produce this worth became the aim of education. 

Spartan Education reveals the Old Greek education i:i its 
most pronounced form. Here there was no change from the 
earliest clear formulation of the ideals of action and of wisdom 
and no change in practice save by way of decline. After the 
definite formulation of this system of education in the constitu- 
tion of Lycurgus, during the ninth century B.C., there was no 
more change in the Spartan ideal than in that of the Oriental type. 

The complete dominance of the state over the individual, 
secured through a system of laws which furnished at the same 
time the core of their educational procedure and the structural 
frame of their society, is explained by the peculiar environment 
and historical setting of the Lacedaemonian nation. The Do- 
rian Greeks, including the Cretans and Spartans, representing 
as they did the earliest form of Greek culture in the historic 
period, replaced or conquered at about the Homeric period an 
earlier branch of the Hellenes, then in the primitive stage of 
culture. 

To preserve their national existence from the danger? arising 



Tlie Greeks. The Liberal Education 35 

from powerful neighbors, from a vast conquered population, and a socialistic 
from internal insurrections, the Spartan people adopted the con- s°^e'educa-^ 
stitution of Lycurgus. This resulted in the most perfect exam- tion 
pie of a socialistic state and the most extreme case of govern- 
mental control of education v^^ith emphasis upon the educational 
function of various social institutions. In fact, society itself 
became a school, in which every adult member was expected to 
participate, as an important duty of citizenship, in the education 
of the young. 

It is not supposed that these laws were formulated de novo Theconstitu- 
by^Lycurgus; rather, that he recognized and strengthened old ^urgus- its 
customs an^ at the same time introduced some new ones, espe- origin and 
cially those of an educational sort, from the related Cretans. ^ ^'^^^^^ 
This system of law or of education — since it was little else 
than a scheme for the training of the younger generation by the 
older — remained in force without modilication until near the 
time of the Macedonian conquest. Though it then began to de- 
cline, it yet remained operative until the second century B.C. 
After this time its vigor much abated, and only the remnants 
of form were left. The details of this system have been most 
fully presented by Plutarch who is corroborated in the main 
points by Xenophon and Aristotle. 

The Aim of Spartan Education was to give each individual Courage, 
such physical perfection, courage and habits of complete obe- ^'^^'^gf ^f 
dience to the laws that he should make the ideal soldier, unsur- endurance, 
passed in bravery, and one in whom the individual was sunk p^trijfti'sm' 
in the citizen. It was successful beyond any other scheme were their 
of extreme paternalistic education. The Spartan state pos- ^'^^^^^ 
sessed a stability and a record of military achievement unequaled Effects of this 
by any other Greek state; the Spartan man, a bravery, power, ^^^^nThT 
endurance and self-control that was often wanting in the other state and 
Greeks; the Spartan woman, a dignity, a scope for activity in spanlnmen, 
life and an ability to meet these opportunities that were denied, women and 
save in the early period, to women in other parts of Greece; 
and the Spartan youth, a reverential and obedient demeanor, 



;6' Brief Course in the History of Education 



Defects of 
these ideals 



a reserve in conduct, a stoicism under pain and habits of obe- 
dience that were possessed to a far less degree by other Greek 
boys. The reverse of the picture shows many defects. While 
the Spartans possessed a keen sense of humor, and while much 
of simple pleasure entered into their active life, there was but 
little place in their ideal for the "hving beautifully and happily" 
of the Athenians. There was a lack of the finer sentiments and 
of Athenian sensitiveness to harmony in conduct and especially 
to the amenities of hfe or to its cultural aspect. There was 
wanting a sense of sympathy, of interest and of fellowship for 
others, which the isolation of Sparta preserved long after this 
narrowness had tended to disappear among the other Grecians. 
In the intellectual and aesthetic aspects of life, individuality 
was scarcely defined or developed at all. And finally Sparta 
d-id not participate to any great extent in the splendid artistic, 
literary and philosophical development which was the glory of 
Athens, 

Organization o] Spartan Education. — The Spartan state, 
which after Lycurgus was governed by an aristocratic senate 
and a democratic assembly composed of all free men, appointed 
a general superintendent of education — the padonomus — 
and assistants. After a hardy training of seven years of infancy, 
during which time the boy was in the direct care of his mother, 
he was taken from the home and put under the charge of the 
assistants to the peedonomus. These cared for him in pubhc 
barracks at state expense. The boys were here divided into 
successively smaller groups under charge of leaders chosen from 
older groups of boys. Of the boys over twelve, Plutarch tells 
us that "the most distinguished among them became the fa- 
vorite companions of the adults; and the old men attended most 
constantly their places of exercise, observing their trials of 
strength and wit not slightingly and in a cursory manner, but 
as their fathers, guardians, governors, so that there was neither 
time nor place where persons were wanting to instruct and chas- 
tise them." 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 2)7 

This organization of the entire hfe of the boys constituted the The entire 
school. The family, the shop, the church, the social life of other !^^ ^ schooi- 

. . . ... ing ; all so- 

peoples, all were merged into this one educational institution, daiinstitu- 
The boys slept in public barracks; they ate at common tables; ^i'ngd'^^^'a, 
they assisted in supplying the necessary food ; they hunted wild school 
animals under the direction of their Irens ; they participated in 
the choral dances of their religious ceremonies; and finally 
all the remainder of their time was spent in the gymnastic exer- 
cises which constituted the chief instrument of their education. 

From eighteen to twenty the boy was classed with the Irens Higher edu- 
who devoted themselves to the serious study of arms and to mili- '^^^°^ ^^ , 

^ mmtary and 

tary maneuvers. During this time he underwent rigid exami- pubhcser- 
nations every ten days and spent much of his time in the instruc- ""^^ 
tion of younger boys. From twenty to thirty his training 
became but little differentiated from actual warfare, practiced 
during the intervals of peace at the expense of the Helots. 
At the age of thirty the youth became a man, only to continue 
both the complete devotion of his services to the state and to 
the training necessary thereto. 

Content of Spartan Education. — Into this education there Content was 
entered very httle of the intellectual and aesthetic; it was chiefly physi- 

•' ' cal and moral 

dominantly physical and moral. Plutarch sums up the con- training 
tent of their education in these words: "As for learning, they 
had just what was absolutely necessary. All the rest of their 
education was calculated to make them subject to command, 
to endure labor, to fight and to conquer." 

There was much conversation and association with the elders, intellectual 
either at meal time or in the street, when the latter were wont to ^ff^'^'"?'.. 

laconic 

test the boys in repartee and ready speech, and to train them in speech 
ideas of justice and honor (especially in the later centuries of 
Spartan history). Some training in reading and writing was 
given. Through the choral dances and religious ceremonies Their music 
there was training in music, for which there must have been ^^ ^ reUdous 
some private instruction in the use of instruments. To a large and patriotic 
extent the training of Spartan_youth came through the approved *^ ^^^^ ^^ 



38 Brief Course in the History of Education 

forms of exercises, — running, leaping, jumping, discus throw- 
ing, javelin casting, boxing, military drill combined with choral 
dancing, but above all wrestling. Hunting, the chief sport and 
occupation of their leisure hours, was at the same time a form 
of exercise quite as important as any branch of the formal 
curriculum. 

With all their emphasis on gymnastics the Spartans had no 
gymnasium and no training of a professional character. The 
trained athlete and the beautifully developed physique — im- 
portant objects of gymnastic training with other Grecian peo- 
ples — were alike foreign to their purposes. The resourceful 
and handy soldier, keen, cautious, self-controlled, fearless, piti- 
less, inured to all hardship, obedient to command, respectful 
to authority, able to act in unison with his fellows, and having 
that disregard for death that was by the Athenians accounted 
as insolence — he was the object of the Spartan training. Their 
music and their choral and religious dances were used to develop 
similar qualities. Since these dances consisted of intricate 
movements often in full armor, they accustomed the partici- 
pants to concerted action. 

Moral Training. — The Spartan system of education gives 
a direct affirmative answer to the question, "Can morality be 
taught ?" One means by which the moral results were obtained 
was the fact that all contests were in the open air, that all the 
boy's education — in fact all his life — was public. Hence the 
approval or disapproval of his elders was a constant source of 
discipline. The frequent conversation, either of an informal 
character or supervised by the adult in two ways now to be 
mentioned, and relating to moral or social questions, secured 
similar results. Plutarch describes the first custom in these 
words : — 



"The Iren, reposing himself after supper, used to order some of the boys 
to sing a song ; to another he put some question which required a judicious 
answer, for example: 'Who was the best man in the city?' or, 'What he 
thought of such an action ? ' This accustomed them from their childhood 






'ir-^'v? 




The Dromos at Sparta 

A Restoration from Falke's, Hellas und Rom. 



''«**?Jfo 




A Greek Youth accompanied to School by his 
Pedagogue 

From a Vase Painting 



i 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 



39 



to judge of the virtues, to enter into the affairs of their countrymen. For 
if one of them was asked 'Who is a good citizen, or who an infamous one? ' 
and hesitated in his answer, he was considered as a boy of slow parts, and 
of a soul that would not aspire to honour. The answer was likewise to 
have a reason assigned for it, and proof conceived in a few words. He 
whose account of the matter was wrong, by way of punishment had his 
thumb bit by the Iren. The old men and magistrates often attended these 
little trials, to see whether the Iren exercised his authority in a rational and 
proper manner. He was permitted, indeed, to inflict the penalties; but 
when the boys were gone, he was to be chastised himself if he had punished 
them either with too much severity or remissness." 

The other custom, one most characteristic of the Greeks since Attach- 
it tended to occupy the same place in their society that romantic ^g^^!^^ °j[. ^j^^ 
attachments or those of sentiment and affection occupy in ours, "inspirer" 
v^^as that of the relation between "the inspirer" and "the hearer." f-hg^rer" 
The above quotation continues as follows : — 

"The adopters of favourites also shared in both the honour and the dis- 
grace of their boys; and one of them is said to have been mulcted by the 
magistrates because the boy whom he had taken into his affections let some 
ungenerous word or cry escape him as he was fighting. This love was so 
honourable and in so much esteem that the virgins, too, had their lovers 
amongst the most virtuous matrons. A competition of affection caused no 
misunderstanding, but rather a mutual friendship between those that had 
fixed their regards upon the same youth, and a united endeavour to make 
him as accomplished as possible." 

In other words, every Spartan adult was a teacher, and every 
Spartan boy had a tutor, selected through mutual esteem. 
Teacher and pupil were bound together by no economic ties, but 
by those of friendship and affection. Through this companion- 
ship, usually outside of the hours of regular gymnastic training, 
the boy received a further training in justice, in honor, in pa- 
triotism, in self-sacrifice, in self-control and in honesty. It must 
be admitted, however, that while the Spartan moral training con- 
served certain elemental virtues, its effects morally, as well as 
physically, had a hardening, even a brutalizing, tendency. Other 
phases of Spartan education can only be mentioned. Unlike any 



Relative high 
position of 
women and 
of children 



Sturdy 
though 
crude char- 



40 Brief Course in the History of Education 



other ancient people, they gave women practically the same kind 
of education as men — yet with no higher purpose than that 
of training mothers of warriors. While there was an absence 
among them of those grosser forms of immorality characteristic 
of early forms of civilization and constituting a blot upon the 
fame of Athens, they yet practically destroyed the family. While 
they possessed a sturdy character and the elemental virtues in a 
higher degree than did the other Greeks, they saw httle of the 
beauty of life and possessed few of the graces of character. They 
have left us a type of education that produced physical strength 
and endurance, the homely moral qualities, strength of character 
under a despotic system of regulation and a citzien body strongly 
imbued with patriotism and devotion to a state that encom- 
passed every activity and every interest in life. But to future 
generations they have left little save their example. 

Athenian Education during the Old Greek Period. — Save in 
the simplicity of aim and in the means adopted for training, 
the Old Greek education at Athens had httle in common with 
that at Sparta. Even in these two general respects there 
was wide divergence in the relative values assigned to the 
various elements in the aim, as well as in the emphasis upon the 
various subjects of study. All that has been said concerning 
Hellenic ideals of hfe and that clear development of individuality 
worked out by the Greeks, applies with peculiar force to the 
lonians and, above all, to the Athenians. 

The Organization of Athenian Education. — The citizen, guid- 
ing his life by reason, wise and judicious in his performance 
of the manifold public duties demanded by the state, yet free 
in the disposition of his leisure time and in his interpretation of 
social obligations, as well as strong in body and brave in war- 
fare, could not be produced by an education thoroughly con- 
trolled by a despotic socialistic regime, as at Sparta. While 
Sparta deliberately destroyed the family, Athens aimed to pre- 
serve it as a means of developing and shaping personaHty, and 
placed upon it the burden of responsibility for education. All 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 41 

schools were private schools; and the state provided directly 
for only that portion of education between the ages of sixteen 
and twenty, which was almost wholly physical and a direct 
preparation for military service. The state rec|uired a training 
in music and gymnastics; and while the freedom and the pri- 
vacy of home life was not destroyed, certain results were de- 
manded by law, and the process was supervised by the court of 
the Areopagus. This court had especial charge of the morals 
of the youth, and during the period in which it preserved its 
original authority, punished with severity grave lapses from the 
accepted standard of morality. Schoolhouses owned by the The state 
masters were quite common. The state may have provided estabUshed 

^ J r Standards 

some of the palaestrae, or elementary gymnastic schools, as it and super- 
did, without any question, the gymnasia for advanced physical ^^^'^ '^^^^'^ 
education. 

Education in the Family. —The training of the child for Education 
the first seven years was wholly in the hands of the family. As t^o^s^ P^^y 

c 1 • • • 1 . n 1 • ^"'" games 

at bparta, this trammg was chiefly physical, since the chief con- 
cern was to secure a hardy constitution and a well-developed 
physique. The training in the family was not, as a rule, of so 
high a character as at Sparta. The child at Athens was usually 
given into the charge of nurses and slaves, while the Spartan 
mothers were famous throughout Greece for the careful physical 
and moral training they gave their children. A most interesting 
phase of child life, before the definite series of physical exercises 
in school life was taken up, is indicated by the fact that Greek 
literature mentions or describes a very extensive list of children's 
games, including practically all that we have to-day. In the 
home, on the street, in the country, the child's early education, 
then as now, was unconsciously furnished. 

School Life began at about seven, and for the children of the Two types 
free Greek families, save those financially unable, continued °^^'*°°^= 

' -' ' the music 

for eight or nine years. The age of entering, the length of at- school and 
tendance, and the subjects studied depended somewhat upon Jl^c^g^ooi"^^' 
the standing of the family. In two respects Athenian education' 



42 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Literary ele- 
ment was 
wanting 



differed very widely from modern practice, — the Athenian boy 
attended two distinct types of schools, the music school and 
the gymnastic school, or palaestra, — and the character of 
work in these two schools was radically different from school 
work of modern ones. From the time he grew out of the care 
of the nurse, the Greek boy was in charge of a pedagogue, — 
a slave or servant, — who was intrusted with the moral over- 
sight and general care of his charge. Too often one was chosen 
for this who from age, injury, or other disqualification was unfit 
for any other service in the household. 

At about sixteen years of age the youth was freed from the 
care of the pedagogue, discontinued all literary and musical study, 
and replaced the training of the palaestra with that of the gym- 
nasium. Here he associated most freely with youth of his own 
age and with adults. He was taught or trained in a variety of 
exercises by a state ofiicial, the pcedotrihe, and was under the 
general supervision of the sophronist, or moral overseer. 

During the Old Greek period there were two of these public 
gymnasia, the Academy and the Cynosarges, erected toward 
the opening of the sixth century B.C., outside the city walls. 
Here in the midst of beautiful groves and extensive gardens, 
the sons of pure Athenians at the Academy, and those of mixed 
blood at the Cynosarges, passed two years in free association 
with their elders and in the physical contests and social and po- 
litical discussions that prepared them for the life of the Athenian 
citizen. 

The only intellectual training of the ephebe was this indirect 
one which he obtained from association with his elders. Through 
discussion in the agora, conversation at banquets, attendance 
upon the theater and the law courts, he gained that knowledge 
of the laws and moral customs necessary to direct his conduct. 
Moral delinquencies that argued any lack of appreciation of the 
responsibilities of citizenship brought him before the court of 
the Areopagus. 

Public Education. — Having completed this two years of 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 43 

preparatory training and demonstrated to the officials that Entrance into 
he met the moral and physical requirements of citizenship, he citizenship; 
was enrolled among the list of free citizens, took the oath pledg- tioned upon 
ing fidelity to the state, the gods, and the moral traditions of his "'^^'^ educa- 
people, was furnished in the pubhc assembly with his ecjuip- 
ment as a soldier, either by his father or, if an orphan through 
war, by the state, and exchanged the dress of youth for that of 
the free citizen. There was yet a definite training in the use of 
arms and in general military discipline before he assumed the Military and 
duties and privileges of full citizenship. This was the technical "^^^^ of 
period of ephebic or cadet education, common to all Grecian theephebes 
people, though it varied in length from two years at Athens to 
ten years at Sparta. During the two earlier years of ephebic 
discipline, — that from sixteen to eighteen in the gymnasium, — 
the youth had remained under the control of parent or guardian. 
For these remaining two years he passed under the direct control 
of state officials. The first year of this service was spent in bar- 
rack or camp life in the neighborhood of the city, and was de- 
voted to severe military training in the use of arms and in the 
conduct of practical affairs of the state. In the second year 
this life became that of the regular soldier in more remote garri- 
sons, with the idea of acquainting the prospective citizen with 
the roads, frontier, and topography of his country as well as 
with the duties of a soldier. During the entire ephebic period 
no small part of this training in pubhc service consisted in the 
participation of the youth in the religious and social festivals, 
as is depicted in the Panathenaic procession on the frieze of 
the Parthenon. In these festivals training in religious devotion Graduation 
and patriotism was combined with the cultivation both of the l^t^fy^j^*^- 

^ ties of citizen- 

graces of life and of harmonious physical development. The ship 

end of the first year was signahzed by a public examination in 

the use of arms; that of the second, by a similar examination 

upon the duties of citizenship which were thereupon assumed. 

Even here the process of education did not cease, for the life 

of the Athenian citizen was one neither of private enterprise nor 



44 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Educational 
training of 
the citizen 



All social 
activities 
possessed a 
definite edu- 
cational value 



Gradual for- 
mulation of 
this educa- 
tional sys- 
tem 



Unique posi- 
tion of gym- 
nastics 



of private indulgence. On the contrary, the state demanded such 
services of the citizen that a hfe of economic activity for personal 
ends was hardly possible, certainly not to the extent common in 
modern times. The pleasures of private life, whether amuse- 
ments in sports and games, attendance upon the theater, or social 
gatherings for eating and drinking, were controlled, for social 
ends, by the Athenians, though somewhat less directly than by 
the Spartans. The state and the entire social life became a 
school in which, although effort for physical perfection was not 
neglected, yet greater emphasis was laid upon intellectual and 
moral growth. Thus was obtained the highest conception of 
the elements of nobility, or virtue, that constituted the ever 
developing "worth" of the Athenian citizen. 

While this organization of educa- 
tion did not become clearly defined 
in all of its details, probably not even 
in its chief stages, until late in the 
Old Greek period, it formed the full 
expression of the Old Greek ideals 
and was a feature of Greek life dur- 
ing the fifth century. The definite 
training of the ephebes was the 
latest phase of this early educa- 
tional development to take shape. 

The Content of Greek Education : 
Gymnastics. — The most striking 
contrast between Greek and mod- 
ern education is found not in its or- 
ganization, but in its content, especially in the importance 

^A, B, C, porticoes with seats where the philosophers and sophists taught ; 
E, double, covered portico ; F, ephebium, or hall for exercise for youth, seats 
were provided here also ; G to P, rooms for hot, cold, and tepid baths, for 
anointing the body, for sprinkling the body with dust, etc. ; Q, R, S, porticoes 
for exercises in inclement weather and in winter, also used for peripatetic in- 
struction ; U, uncovered walks and running tracks ; W, stadium for public 
contests, with provision for a multitude of spectators; in the center is the grove. 




«iJ.J...Jl.jl„jK^wJr__irfJ ij. 

Plan of a Greek Gym- 
nasium, i 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 45 

given to gymnastics. In the period of school life from 
seven to sixteen, fully half — and before the fifth century 
much more than half — of the boy's time was given to 
the palaestra. The formal education of the ephebic period, 
including the two years in the gymnasium and the two years' 
garrison duty, Hlcewise consisted, for the most part, in physical 
training. And yet from all this the Greeks got much more than Moral value 
mere physical development Moral results were no less impor- ^\ gymnastic 

r J r 1 education 

tant. Whole-mindedness, or temperance, — the control of the 
passions and the emotions by reason, — was thus obtained. 
Above all, the coordination of thought and action, the fitting 
of conduct to precept, of word to action, was secured through 
this same training. There resulted that harmony between the 
inner thought life and the outer life of conduct which formed the 
ideal of the Greeks. 

Games and physical contests were not indulged in haphaz- Organization 
ard as with the modern youth, nor participated in by the few ° ^^™^^ 
for the entertainment of the many. Nor were the standards 
of excellence the same as modern ones. Success consisted not Results to be 
so much in the winning of the contest, as in the evidence given ^^^"^ 
of the proper form of the exercise, in graceful and dignified 
carriage, in control of temper and of skill. Above those 
exercises that called for display of mere force were prized 
such games as called for quickness of perception and evi- 
dence of courage, or ''pluck." Succeeding the games of little 
children there were used a great variety of games with the 
ball and of contests in running, together with a multitude of 
children's games and simple forms of exercises or calisthenics. 
In the schools these exercises were organized into a more definite 
course of study called the pentathlon. This included, in succes- The pen- 
sion, jumping, running, throwing the discus, throwing the spear 
and wrestling. Wrestling developed into boxing with the open 
palms of the hands and into the pancratium. This latter was 
a combination of boxing and wrestling, in which hands and feet, 
in fact, any means of discomfiting one's opponent, might be 



46 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Inclusive 
meaning of 
the term 
music 



used. At Athens, however, this was reserved for the older boys 
and was always under strict control of the gymnastic teachers 
or directors. To these a variety of other exercises were added. 

Music, to be understood in a much broader sense than is 
given in the modern meaning of the term, constituted the 
second portion of the Greek curriculum. "Gymnastic for the 
body, music for the soul," was their conception of an education. 
Music in this sense included all that came within the activities 
presided over by the nine Muses. Hence poetry, the drama, 
history, oratory, the sciences, as well as music in the more Hmited 



Work of the 
music school 



Mastery of 

Homeric 

poems 




Greek Music School, from Vase Painting, about 450 b.c. 

sense, came to be included within the scope of this term. It is 
in the restricted meaning, however, that it formed the larger part 
of the education of the Greek boy in the earlier period. In 
the music schools the Athenian boy from early morning till 
sunset spent most of his time not given to the palaestra. The 
earlier years of childhood were devoted to memorizing the 
Homeric poems, with portions of Hesiod. Later, in the historic 
period, selections from the lyric and didactic poets were added. 
Beyond this memoriter work, the tasks of the school consisted 
chiefly in explaining the meaning of words, phrases and obscure 
allusions. After a few years devoted to the mastery of this 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 



47 



literature, wherein the early ideals of Greek life are expressed 
in a form that had imperishable influence on each succeeding 
generation, the boy was taught to chant these poems to an 
accompaniment on the lyre. 

For many generations this constituted all of the intellectual Technical 
education of the Athenian boy and, even after writing and read- ^'f'!|,'^°^ , , 

■' ' " mghly valued 

ing became common during the sixth century, continued to form 
the major part of it. However long it might take the boy to 
acquire the ability to play the lyre, mere technical skill was never 
the end. The task of the boy was similar to that of the work of 
the old bard. The playing of the lyre, in the school sense, was 




•'•'■ ■ ■' [p 



Reverse of Same Vase 



the improvising of an accompaniment in harmony with the 
thought expressed in the passage repeated. Here was demanded 
not only insight and understanding in the interpretation of the 
poem, but skill and creative ability in the construction and per- 
formance of its accompaniment. In both respects there was a 
demand for individual ability and initiative, and hence there 
resulted a development of personaHty quite foreign to any pre- 
ceding type of education. Indeed, it is to be doubted whether 
education as a process of developing creative power — power 
of expression, of initiative and of appreciation — has ever 
been given a more fruitful form. It is in this sense that the 



A construc- 
tive or crea- 
tive process 



48 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Details of 
work of mu- 
sic school 
given by 
Greek vases 



Reading and 
writing intro- 
duced about 
600 B.C. 



Greeks expected and accomplished so much from their musical 
education. 

Music developed not only this power of appreciation and ex- 
pression, but it produced as well a harmony of soul corresponding 
to the harmony of the body produced by gymnastics. In this 
connection Plato says : — ■ 

"Harmony is not regarded by him who intelligently uses the Muses as 
given by them with a view to irrational pleasure, but with a view to the in- 
harmonical course of the soul and as an ally for the purpose of reducing this 
into harmony and agreement with itself." 

The two accompanying illustrations of the music school are 
taken from a vase painting dating from about 450 B.C. by the 
Athenian artist Duris. On each side of the vase there are 
five people : two pupils, two masters, and a pedagogue who 
has accompanied the boy to his master and remains to look on, 
to assist, or merely to return home with the boy. It probably 
is an exigency of the representation of the artist that each 
boy has a master, for we know that a single master had many 
pupils, though most of the instruction, save in the chorus, was 
individual. On the one side, the boy in one group is learning 
to play the lyre; in the other group he is repeating a portion of 
a poem which the master holds in book or scroll form. On the 
other side, the boy is either learning to sing, or is repeating a 
poem to the accompaniment by the master on the flute, or is 
learning to play the flute ; in the other group instruction in writ- 
ing is represented, the master holding in his hands a triptych^ 
or folded wax tablets, and either correcting an exercise or setting 
a model. On the wall are hung musical instruments, flute cases, 
rolls and satchels for books, and on each wall a cyHx, or drinking 
cup, like that from which the illustrations are taken. 

Reading, Writing and the Literary Element of educa- 
tion are thus included in the work of the music school. Reading 
and writing were introduced into the schools about 600 B.C., but 
long before this the Homeric poems were taught orally, as they 
continued to be afterward. Filling a function similar to that 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 49 

performed by the Bible in the education of our own people in Educational 
earlier generations, the Iliad and the Odyssey furnished to the Homeric ^ 
Greeks moral guidance, aesthetic inspiration and practical direc- poems 
tion for every need in life. Though they contained much that 
could not but be of detriment in the moral education of the 
young, the explanation of such passages was much the same as 
that made in case of similar passages in the Bible. On account 
of this influence, however, Plato would limit the study of the 
poets to certain carefully chosen selections. 

The full development of this literary element is the dominant School work 
characteristic of the New Greek period. Reading and writing ^^comes 

^ <j o dommantly 

are thus incidental in the early period. The higher moral re- literary only 
suits of this education were obtained in no small degree without ^ ^^^ ^^^ 

<3 Greek 

their assistance through the possession of the literature, trans- period 
mitted by the spoken word. The processes of reading and 
writing were acquired much as they are with us, or have been 
until recent times. The ordinary alphabetical and syllabic 
methods were used. But in reading there was much more of Methods of 
educational value than with us, because of the important train- readmg 
ing in power of discrimination or in judgment. This was due to 
the use of accent and to the fact that words were written con- 
tinuously without a break, and hence the separation of one word 
from another was required. Likewise there was no punctua- 
tion, so that it was necessary that the child should get the idea 
in order that the reading might even be intelligible. After 
some years of this practice, much emphasis was placed on beauti- 
ful reading, preparatory to further work in declamation. 

Arithmetic, other branches of mathematics, and drawing Practical 
were not introduced until later. So the results of Greek educa- 
tion, great though simple in their harmony, were obtained 
chiefly from the simple curriculum of poetry and music. 

Dancing remains as the one element in the Old Greek cur- ^°.'"f ^°^ 

social value 

riculum yet to be mentioned. This might have been included of dancing; a 
under gymnastics, but it was more than physical exercise and relation of°'^" 
training. In a way it might have been included under music, studies 



50 Brief Course hi the History of Education 

for it was but the expression of harmony of thought through 
rhythmical motion. It differed from modern dancing in several 
respects. Since it was the rhythmical movement of the whole 
body, there was much more of exercise leading to harmonious 
physical development. Since it was chiefly religious or civic 
or military in its character, its aim was not merely the pleasure 
of the individual. Having these social motives, it possessed a 
content of thought as well as of emotion, and an outcome of 
moral as well as aesthetic training. Such dancing for the most 
part was performed in companies, civic processions, military 
drill, or religious worship, or at least in preparation for these, 
so that it was a training in harmonious action with others. Danc- 
ing was the union of the harmony of thought and emotional 
experience expressed through music, and the harmony of physi- 
cal development produced through gymnastics. 
Moral pur- The Moral Fur pose of Greek Education is thus indicated by 

nantin the rcsults they hoped to gain from the use of each element of 

gymnastics j^g content. We have already noted that the gymnastic educa- 

and in music . i . i i • i i i 

tion was designed to produce certam moral results, such as con- 
trol of temper and the general subjection of the passions to rea- 
son; that through this training, patience, endurance, fortitude, 
courage, loyalty, devotion and a consideration for the rights of 
others were to be developed. Concerning the moral ends of the 
musical education, a sentence from the description of a school 
by Plato will bear repeating: " They [the music teachers] make 
rhythm and harmony familiar to the souls of boys, that they 
may grow more gentle, and graceful, and harmonious, and so 
be of service both in words and deeds ; for the whole life of 
man stands in need of grace and harmony." 

In one sense all of the training in the school and the home 
had a religious bearing, since even the athletic contests were in 
honor of the gods; but in the sense of a differentiated interest in 
life and one connected largely with the life to come, the religious 
element played little part in the Greek boy's education. The 
moral education of the Greek, being less directly connected with 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 51 

religion than in the case of most peoples, adopted one other Moral train- 
means quite unique. By the direct association of the boy with ^^^'^3^^ 
an adult, as a child with the pedagogue and as a youth with the in the school 
"inspirer," the Greeks brought about in a most practical way 
the moral education of the young. 

Thus while the gymnastic and music teacher could give the The teacher, 
boy the elements of these branches, the truly educative process ^t^ted*"^^ 
had to be based upon other than economic grounds. Though 
all his teachers united in giving him dignity of bearing and of 
breeding, becoming manners, grace of conduct, modesty, rever- 
ence for elders and respect for laws, these special teachers fur- 
nished him a direct model for the formation of character which 
the boy must approximate through conscious and unconscious 
imitation acquired through constant association. 

The Method of Greek Education finds in this custom its chief Method of 
characteristic. So far as their education was an imitation, it was ^on^of™!jf" 
not, as with the Oriental, an imitation of fixed form or dead cus- models 
torn, but of a living model, possessed of strong personality and 
stimulating to the development and expression of individuality. 

So far as it was a direct inculcation of certain quahties, it 
was by the immediate example of these virtues lived by the 
teacher. For the Greek boy education always had an attain- 
able aim, since he possessed a concrete, definite model by 
which to shape his character and direct his conduct. Educa- 
tion was not a formal, lifeless process, but a living of a type of 
life full of activity and pleasure, of expression of self and of 
attempt at concrete forms of virtue made real to him through 
the conduct of an "inspirer." 

At the present time, when so much emphasis is laid upon Theconstmc- 
expression, or the constructive and doing side in education, sideTm-^'"^ 
one other aspect of Greek method is of special significance, phasized 
Greek education was first of all a doing, only in the second 
place a learning process. Early action was shaped directly 
by authority. Just as our schools devote most of their time 
to the shaping of the child's ideas by authority, so the Greek 



52 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Instruction 
follows in 
order to ren- 
der habits 
rational and 
permanent 



The Age of 
Pericles, or 
the flowering 
of the Greek 
genius 



schools devoted their efforts to the shaping of conduct. In 
these schools the boy learned to run races, to jump, to wrestle, 
to excel in physical exercise and contests, to play the harp, to 
recite poetry to the accompaniment of the harp, to read and de- 
claim, to dance. It is all ^'a doing," — a formation of habits, 
of courtesy, of graceful bearing, of temperance in thought and 
action, in control of emotions and passions, and in giving ex- 
pression in action to the ideas of harmonious, beautiful and vir- 
tuous conduct in life. Only afterward does it become a learn- 
ing. When the habit is once formed by exercise, training must 
be followed by instruction in order to make the habit permanent 
by making it rational. Instruction then aims to replace arbi- 
trary authority with reason as the basis of virtuous conduct. 
Instruction thus produces this harmony between the inner life 
and the outward action. The relation between instruction and 
activity or expression, as developed in modern education, is thus 
reversed. The Greeks held to the scriptural principle that if one 
does the deed, the knowledge of doctrine will follow. 

NEW GREEK EDUCATION: TRANSITIONAL PERIOD.— 
Character of the Period. — The Old Greek education resulted 
during the fifth century B.C., in a brilhant period of personal 
achievement and national progress which has never been 
surpassed in history. The culmination of this period was 
the Age of Pericles. During and immediately preceding this 
period the highest products of Greek civilization were attained. 
In poHtics such men as Themistocles and Pericles controlled 
her destinies; in art the work of Phidias and Myron and the 
construction of the Parthenon are evidences of their taste and 
their achievement. Herodotus and Thucydides laid the founda- 
tion of the science or art of historical writing. The tragic drama 
reached its perfection in the work of ^schylus, Sophocles and 
Euripides ; and comedy, in the plays of Aristophanes. In every 
aspect of human activity and human thought there was a similar 
creative effort and an achievement that is beyond comparison 
with that of preceding historic periods. But this period of frui- 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 53 

tion was also one of transition and of origins. While the old 
education laid the foundation for these achievements, it was 
insufficient to meet the demands of the times and altogether in- 
adequate for future needs. The life of this period made greater Greater de- 
demands upon the individual and offered greater opportunities {^^"•'^j— 5°° 
for personal achievement, consequently it required an education uai and 
suited to the period, — one wherein the chief emphasis was laid e^^^*^"^ °p- 

^ ' J- portumties 

upon individual development rather than upon service to the for him 
city state, and wherein the individual was not merged in the citi- 
zen. The answer to this demand was the New Greek Education. 

Transitional Forces. — As a result of the Persian war, Athen- Economic 
ian life was merged into Greek hfe as a whole, economic relations changes; m- 
and commercial activities were extended, industrial interests wealth 
were developed, and a hitherto unknown toleration of foreign 
tea,chers grew up. Toleration of new ideas led to criticism of 
old ones and finally to modification or rejection of much that 
had been characteristic in previous periods. Even before this 
flourishing industrial and commercial period was reached, eco- 
nomic and social causes had been at work in producing revo- 
lutionary political changes. The old aristocratic constitution Political 
was replaced (t^og B.C.) by the democratic one of Clisthenes. All changes; 

. 1 , . growth of 

free inhabitants of Attica were admitted to citizenship. All democracy 
these now served in the popular law courts or in the assembly. 
Many officers were chosen by lot as in the case of the modem 
jury. To the popular assembly was given the power to ostracize, 
or banish by secret ballot, any citizen considered dangerous 
to the public welfare. Under this system of free government 
the political power, the material prosperity, and the culture of 
the citizens increased with rapid strides. 

The highest hterary product of the old period was the tragedy : Literary de- 
during the latter part of the fifth century the most characteristic ^g°^o™^ed*' 
literary form was the comedy. The problem underlying all succeeds 
tragedy was the conflict of duty and interest; its theme was ^^^^^^^ 
always ethical; its occasion was that of religious worship. 
The theme of comedy was social and poUtical; its characters 



54 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Develop- 
ment of in- 
trospective 
psychology 
and of phi- 
losophy 



Mythology 
replaced by 
rationahstic, 
moral and re- 
ligious ideas 



Greater free- 
dom for indi- 
vidual de- 
manded 



were drawn from contemporary life; its purpose was to enter- 
tain. As a satire on the pretensions, shams, foUies and extrava- 
gances of every phase of hfe, its very nature indicates that in 
real life self-interest had won the victory over duty. 

Akin to the change in literature was that in philosophy. 
The early philosophy of the Greeks had sought for some ex- 
planation of the physical universe, — its constituent elements 
and its relation to man ; to the new teachers, philosophers, so- 
phists and students such loiowledge seemed impossible. The 
new thought turned its attention inward, and in the activities 
and the nature of the mind sought to determine the nature of 
reality. 

A similar change occurred in religion and morals. The old 
mythology was rejected, — or preserved for the unintelligent 
masses alone. In its place was substituted a naturahstic or 
rationalistic explanation of natural phenomena. In place of the 
old morality, founded on the institutions of the city state, of 
the family, and of the worship of the household gods, was sub- 
stituted a new morality based upon self-interest or upon rational 
enlightenment. Extreme skepticism and unreasoned conserva- 
tism came into conflict. There could be no question as to where 
the ultimate victory would lie. Skepticism in belief led to free- 
dom, even hcense, in conduct. The orderHness, the dignity, 
the gravity, the devotion to pubhc need, of the old Greek life, 
was replaced by a greater frivolity, a disposition to place personal 
gratification above public service and a general disposition to 
allow the individual to determine his own ends in life and to 
select the means for their attainment. 

The Demands upon Education made by these social changes, 
political, economic, ethical, literary and the like, were two- 
fold. There was first a demand for greater freedom for the 
individual in thought and action to correspond with this growth 
of freedom in the political sphere. Second, there was a de- 
mand for a training or an education that would enable the 
individual to take advantage of the unprecedented opportuni- 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 55 

ties for personal aggrandizement and achievement. There was 
now demanded an ability to succeed in a democratic society 
much hke our own, and to control the votes and command the 
approval of an intelligent populace where the functions of print- 
ing press, telegraph, railroad and all modern means of com- Also a better 
munication were performed through public speech and private ^g^^^'n 
discourse, and where the legal, ecclesiastical and other pro- opportuni- 
fessional classes of teachers did not exist. No means, how- ^'^^ 
ever, existed in Athenian society, as organized under the old 
regime, for giving to the individual such training as would pro- 
vide for personal achievement in place of civic service. Such 
instrumentalities now appeared in the form of a new class of 
teachers, the sophists. 

The Sophists were the new class of teachers that arose in Double sig- 
answer to these new demands. Like many terms, such as peda- ^g term 5o- 
gogue and politician, the term " sophist " is used in both a generic phists 
and a specific sense. In the broader generic sense the sophists 
were Greek teachers, not usually native Athenians, who saw the 
defects in ihe existing organization of education at Athens and 
offered to the youth of the city the training so much in demand 
as a preparation for a career of personal aggrandizement in the 
political and social life of the times. They were students of 
affairs who through wide travel had picked up the current learn- Sophists not 
ing concerning natural forces and phenomena, political life, "^^^^^.g 
social institutions and popular questions of the day. Many of 
them gave merely a formal training that often consisted in fur- 
nishing their pupils with set speeches upon given topics to be 
repeated upon definite occasions, such as trials before the Formal char- 
courts, or with smart sayings and fragmentary information to ^g^chJBg ^^ 
be used whenever chance opportunity offered. Many gave a 
more thorough course in the study of questions of the day and 
in the rudimentary, natural and historical sciences of the times 
as well as a training in dialectic power through discussion and 
in rhetorical power through public speech. They themselves 
taught through formal discourse or lecture. Two characteristics 



56 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Pretense of 
teaching all 
subjects ; 
teaching for 
pay 



Opposition of 
conservative 
Greeks 
aroused 



Sophists 
teaching the 
natural out- 
come of grow- 
ing individu- 
alism 



rendered them especially disliked by the thinking Greeks, espe- 
cially those of a conservative character; the one was the profes- 
sion of their ability, as indicated by their title, wise men, to give 
information on any subject; the other was their demand for 
remuneration for their services. With the charlatans among 
their number — and they were probably not a few — this took 
the form of offering to impart to any one any subject or any 
abihty, if the remuneration was sufQcient. Since power in 
argumentation constituted the great desideratum, it was the 
boast of many of them that they could give one the ability to 
argue either side of any question with equal facility. These two 
characteristics ran counter to some of the fundamental and 
most worthy traits of old Greek life. The former violated their 
principle of harmony and reverence and bordered on the inso- 
lent. The latter was contradictory to their idea that develop- 
ment of character, which was the inclusive aim of education, 
could result only where the relation between teacher and pu- 
pil was based upon mutual esteem and where the financial 
nexus was altogether wanting. Consequently there arose to- 
ward the sophists a most violent antipathy expressed by all the 
writers with conservative inclination, and a natural desire upon 
the part of Plato and the members of the philosophical group 
to differentiate themselves from the despised class, however 
much they might have in common with it. 

The moral teachings of the sophists placed an unprecedented 
emphasis upon individuahty. As a class they did not teach 
immorality, for they held no common system of views. The 
only idea common to all was that there were no universal ideas 
or standards of conduct. In the words of Protagoras, one of the 
greatest of them, " Man is the measure of all things." As this 
meant the individual man, the tendency long developing in Greek 
society toward giving individuality more and more emphasis 
in moral life and in the educational process here finds its cul- 
mination. Naturally many found no basis for continuing the 
old customs, and a period of great laxity and even dissoluteness 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 57 

followed. The immorality of the sophists, then, was a nega- Their immo- 
dve one, to be found in their exaltation of the individual. The ^^^^^^^'^' 
individual now found a place distinct from and above his life 
as a citizen. From the point of view of the Old Greek, the so- 
phist tendency was an immoral one. From the point of view 
of modern thought it is seen to be a necessary critical stage, 
destructive of the old, but clearing the ground and even laying 
the foundation for the new. 

At best, the work of the sophist, which as defined by Socrates Represented 
was to teach young men "to think, speak, and act," had no nent^aiige 
unworthy motive and was no insignificant service to the state, in educa- 
Only in two respects, to which the modem world can hardly methods 
object since both are accepted in modern education, can the 
sophists as a class be held to be teachers of immorality. They 
did beheve that morality and wisdom could be taught theoret- 
ically, whereas in the Old Greek education these had been the 
products of a practical training in certain activities. And they 
did hold that the basis of morality was to be found within one's 
own intellectual and moral being. Morality was to be based on 
reason and not, as in the old period, upon custom and tradition, 
as revealed in their religious thought and institutional life. 
Nevertheless these very views did much to encourage the ten- 
dency to unrestricted individualism and contributed much to the 
demoralization of Athens. The term sophist continued in use Later use of 
for many generations. Even in the Christian centuries it was i^^^/"' 
applied to the teachers in the universities as practically synony- 
mous with the modern term professor. Yet the sophist in the 
original sense, as a teacher attached to no institution and to no 
one locality, and as one who professed to give instruction on all 
subjects, was characteristic of only about a century. 

Resulting Changes in Education. — In Content. — The pe- Education 
riod of higher education from sixteen to eighteen, hitherto ^^'^^T , 

" o ' more intel- 

devoted to physical training and informal instruction in po- lectuai 
litical duties, was now devoted more to a purely intellectual 
training. In private rooms, on the street, or in the gymnasia, 



58 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Study of lit- 
erary form 



Instruction 
supersedes 
training 



the sophists collected this body of students, imparted the knowl- 
edge, and gave the rhetorical training desired. While the so- 
phists drew largely from the ranks of the ephebes, their greatest 
influence was exerted upon those who had entered the period of 
young manhood. 

Literature, studied from the point of view of form rather than 
from that of content and for the purpose of pleasing and per- 
suading the multitude, now came to be the basis of study. To 
the sophists is due the formulation of the grammatical and rhe- 
\ torical study of language and literature. Most of them wrote 
treatises on some phase of language study. 

In the music school the same emphasis was laid on literary 
study. Later didactic poets, oftering opportunity for "hair- 
sphtting" dialectics, were introduced. The tendency to intro- 
duce new musical instruments, the flute and the cithara with 
an increased number of strings, and new types of music, aiming 
more at subjective, pleasurable effects, indicates the tendency 
to allow individual pleasures and desires to control. In a simi- 
lar way the introduction of the warm bath and the relaxation 
of the severity of the physical exercises in the palsestra indicate 
the growing love of ease. The extent to which these changes 
would develop individuahsm is evident.^ 

In Method. — With an increased emphasis upon study of 
form, with the growing importance of intellectual acuteness in 
discrimination between words, with the enlarged rewards for 
mere showy effectiveness, the old emphasis on training in moral 
habit as the basal part of education was replaced by the exalta- 
tion of instruction. The study of grammar and rhetoric, soon 
to be followed by that of other subjects, reversed the old order of 
method and made of their education a process of theoretical 
instruction. Education became more distinctly a school pro- 
cess looking toward intellectual and practical, that is, individual 
ends. 



* For concrete details, see The Clouds of Aristophanes in Monroe, Source 
Book in the History of Education for the Greek and Roman Period, pp. 66-91. 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 59 

The Results of the New Education, both in the century of Two views of 
transition and in the following period of complete dominance, ^""^^ ^ 
were naturally of a twofold character. If one looks solely 
upon the darker side and is guided by the strictures of Plato, 
Aristophanes, and the conservatives, it was a period of extrava- 
gance in customs, of license in action, and of skepticism, irrever- 
ence and anarchy in belief. If, on the other hand, one tempers 
the views of these critics by what is gained inferentially from 
their own writings and more directly from writers less renowned, 
as is done by Grote (Chapter 67), it was a period of the greatest 
enlightenment in opinions, of moderation in policy, and of attain- 
ment in all the higher aspirations of life. In fact, as character- 
istic of a period of greatest freedom, both results might have been 
true. With its attendant benefits and its unavoidable evils the Both classes 
absolute freedom of learning and of teaching, the "Lern-und °^ ^^^^'^ 

o o' necessary 

Lehrfreiheit," which is the ideal of modern higher education, 
was an actual realization in this period. Such evils are the 
necessary price to be paid for such blessings. With Athens, 
however, since such freedom attended not only learning and 
thought, but prevailed in the world of moral conduct, of poHtical 
activities, and of the rehgious life as well, the cost was a heavy 
one and was paid to the uttermost. 

THE GREEK EDUCATIONAL THEORISTS. — The Prob- Similarity 
lem of the Educational Theorists was identical with the problem tionai^prob- 
of educational theorists at the present. This problem is to for- lem then and 
mulate an educational ideal that will provide for institutional 
loyalty or social service, and at the same time permit or even 
necessitate the fullest development of personahty; to organize 
an education on the institutional side so as to render this aim 
possible of realization by all; and to construct appropriate 
methods of instruction and training. The occasion for the work Moral char- 
of the Greek educational theorists was the conflict between the prod^J°ed\.y 
New Greek education and the Old. The educational problem instruction 
was similar to that of to-day. A few generations ago the content rationality ""^ 
of education was almost wholly rehgious, and moral conduct 



6o Brief Course in the History of Education 



Relation of 
the philoso- 
phers to the 
sophists 



Socrates' 
statement of 
the problem 



Knowledge 
vs. opinion 
as the basis 
of conduct 



was regulated by a code of ethics based upon the authority of 
revelation. Now religious instruction and material are banished 
from the schools, and moral conduct must be developed through 
schoolroom instruction and rational training. 

In one respect the theorists agreed with the New Greek educa- 
tors. They held the ideals as well as the process of the Old Greek 
education to be wholly inadequate. In another respect they 
agreed with the conservatives who rejected the New. They held 
the negative attitude of the sophists to be wholly inadequate 
and believed that some general moral bonds must be furnished. 
The attitude of the sophists toward knowledge was of the same 
negative and destructive character as their attitude toward moral 
principles. Along with the ancient standards of conduct, the 
previous conception of knowledge had come to be looked upon 
as antiquated and false, so that the sophists despaired of the 
attainment of any satisfactory interpretation of reahty, of the 
universe, or of life. 

Socrates (469-399) first stated the problem of the conflict 
between the Old and the New Greek education, between social 
and individual interests, and somewhat vaguely formulated the 
principles of solution. He accepted as his starting point the 
basal principle of the sophist teaching, " Man is the measure of 
all things." This he did in no superficial sense. If man is the 
measure of all things, the first obligation which man must as- 
sume is to know himself. 

Within the consciousness of the individual, within the moral 
nature of man, according to this new teacher, is to be found 
the determination of the aims of fife and of the purpose of educa- 
tion. Not, however, in this consciousness as mere opinion. A 
characteristic of this age was the dominance of opinion. Ques- 
tions relating to natural phenomena, natural forces, pohtical 
policy, economic procedure, moral principles, were all thrown 
into the arena of public discussion. As questions relating to the 
operation of economic laws, of jurisprudence, of finance, are 
often settled nowadays by popular vote, so it was then, under the 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 6i 

influence of the sophists, with a much wider hst of subjects. 
"Come now, whether do you think that Jupiter always rains 
fresh rain on each occasion, or that the sun draws from below 
the same water back again," proposes Strepsiades in The Clouds 
as a fertile and typical subject for the exchange of opinion. 
Against this sway of opinion Socrates set himself with all the force 
of his wonderful personality. As opposed to the purely indi- 
viduahstic basis of opinion, Socrates held that knowledge pos- 
sessed universal vahdity. From this basis he arrived at his 
fundamental principle, "Knowledge is virtue." By guiding Knowledge 

1 • 1 1 • 1 1- 1- • J ^ is virtue 

conduct by those ideas that possess universal vahdity, instead of 
by mere opinion, one Hves the virtuous hfe. The aim of educa- 
tion, then, was not to give the offhand information that, combined 
with superficial brilliancy of speech, constituted the ideal of the 
sophists. It was to give knowledge to the individual by develop- 
ing in him the power of thought. Every individual has within 
himself the power of knowing and appreciating such truths as 
those of fidehty, of honesty, of truthfulness, of honor, of friend- 
ship, of wisdom, of virtue, or has the possibihty of acquiring 
this power. This is the phase of knowledge in which Socrates 
was interested, — the knowledge which is derived from one's 
own experience and which is the basis of right conduct. 

The Socratic Method. — The teachings of Socrates had two Development 
purposes. The first of these was to demonstrate that knowledge ^j-ouT ^dia- 
lies at the basis of all virtuous action; the second was to indicate lectic 
that knowledge was to be developed by each individual from his 
own experience by means of the dialectic method. Knowledge, 
he held, is the prerequisite of free action; it is the basis of right 
action in all the arts. This is preeminently true of the highest 
of all arts, the art of right Hving. Such knowledge, Socrates 
held, was to be gained not from the mere opinion of the individual, 
but only by a search for that which was common to all and was 
universally valid. 

But the individual is unable without training to discover that 
which possesses universal validity in his own experience and in 



62 Brief Course in the History of Education 

Aim of edu- his own consciousness. Such truth is to be gained only through 
vekmpower" ^^^^ process of dialectic. Consequently the aim of Socrates' 
of thought work and his view of the general aim of education was to develop 
in each individual the power of formulating these universals. 
His custom was to begin a conversation by asking for informa- 
tion, thus getting the views of his companion which he seemed 
to accept and espouse. Then through adroit questioning, these 
original opinions were developed in the words of the person to 
be instructed, until the folly and absurdities of the superficially 
formed opinions were fully shown and the supposed possessor 
of wisdom was brought face to face with consequences that were 
either contradictory to the original opinion or so absurd that the 
opponent confessed either the error of his opinion or his inability 
to reach a satisfactory conclusion. This first part of the method 
TheSocratic of Socratcs, designed to bring conviction of error, is the ironic. 
nony jiy further questioning, the whole truth, of which the original 

opinion was but a fragment, was then developed. Socrates 
The Socratic termed this latter work maieutics, — the art of giving birth 
rmieuiics ^^ idcas. This is the method fully revealed in the Socratic 

dialogues of Plato. 
Emphasis on Influence on Method and Content of Education. — The imme- 
tance"of°'^' diatc influence of Socrates' teaching upon education was two- 
knowledge fold. In regard to content there was an unprecedented em- 
phasis on knowledge. This coincided with the similar influence 
of the sophists who professed to give the knowledge demanded 
by the new condition of the times. But since the knowledge of 
Socrates contained a compulsory moral import, it was a much 
broader conception than the knowledge of the earlier phi- 
losophers, than the information of the sophists, and even than 
the modern conception of knowledge. Nevertheless, to the 
multitude, this distinction was hardly evident. 

To both Socrates and Plato little mental improvement came 
from the direct impartation of knowledge. Against the ^popular., 
methods of the sophists, which aimed to disseminate informa- 
tion through the formal lecture, these philosophers opposed the 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 63 

dialectic or conversational method. The object of this method Emphasis on 
was to generate the poicer of thinking. Their aim was to create tance"of°'^ 
minds capable of forming correct conclusions, of formulating method and 
the truth for themselves, rather than to give them the conclu- thinking 
sions already elaborated. Hence the method of dialectic came 
to replace both the method of formal delivery of the sophists 
and that method of training in habits through doing which was 
characteristic of the Old Greek education. 

This method is adequate when it is applied to the formulation Limitations 
of ethical truths. It enables one to determine what is the just cratic method 
act, what is right conduct, what is honorable, etc., since in all 
of these respects every individual has had concrete experience. 
The limitations of the method appear when applied to subjects, 
such as science, history and literature, wherein the content is 
not given by the experience of the individual, but is social. 
Such content subjects can be obtained only by methods other 
than the dialectic. The dialectic, Socratic or questioning 
method can give scientific form, classification, interpretation, 
but it cannot give content. The permanent as well as the im- 
mediate contributions of Socrates to education are these: (i) 
Knowledge possesses a practical or moral, that is, functional 
value, and consequently it is universal, not individualistic in its to education 
^nature; (2) The process of attaining loiowledge objectively is 
the conversational one, and subjectively is by reflection and 
classification of one's own experience; (3) Education has for 
I its immediate object the development of the power of thought, 
not the impartation of knowledge. In these respects his in- 
fluence has been as far reaching and is as potent to-day as is the 
influence of the practices in the Greek schools of that period. 
Consequently an exposition of his ideas and influence is a com- 
ponent part of the history of education. 

Plato (420-348 B.C.) — While the influence of Plato upon 
educational theory and upon the thought life of educated men 
has been lasting and profound, his influence upon school prac- 
tice, either immediate or ultimate, has been slight. Hence 



64 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Plato agreed 
with Socrates 
as to the aim 
of education 



Discussed the 
nature of 
knowledge 
as basis of 
virtue 



Hence his 
metaphysics 



Dialectic 
power, or 
"sense for 
ideas," lim- 
ited to a few 



this discussion can but briefly notice a few salient points in his 
educational theory and his philosophy. 

Relation 0} Plato^s Views to Those 0} Socrates. — Plato agreed 
with Socrates that the great need of the times was the formula- 
tion of a new moral bond in life to replace the ancient wealth 
and worth of Old Greek society rejected by the individualism of 
the New. Like Socrates, he attempted to formulate a new basis 
for the moral hfe which should give sufficient scope for the indi- 
vidual and at the same time provide ample recognition of the 
claims of institutional life. Plato agreed with his master that 
this new bond was to be found in ideas, in universal truth, in the 
intelligence through which men were united by nature. To 
him virtue consisted in knowledge, or in whole-thoughts as 
opposed to opinions. Socrates was content with this for- 
mulation of the purpose of education and of life and with the 
development of the power of attaining to this knowledge in 
the few whom he taught. But Plato, profoundly interested in 
the nature of these whole-thoughts, carried liis investigation 
much farther. This work of determining the nature of knowl- 
edge, his metaphysics, is a most important part of Plato's 
philosophy. 

In regard to method Plato also accepts and elaborates the 
dialectic of Socrates. He defines dialectic as a "continuous 
discourse with one's self." While Socrates found this power in 
all and conversed with Pericles or the street cobbler alike, Plato 
considered that this longing for the supreme good, this power of 
attaining knowledge, was to be found only in a few. To him 
this vision of eternal truth was a function of a special or sixth 
sense, a "sense for ideas." Hence, although the influence of 
Socrates fell in with the democratic tendency of the times, the 
influence of Plato was more reactionary. In his ideal schemes 
of education he returned to an aristocratic government of a 
socialistic nature. In this ideal repubhc philosophers were to be 
the rulers. The philosopher is he who knows the highest good. 
He alone can determine to what extent the phenomenal existence 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 65 

approximates the idea and thus attains to the good. He alone, 
then, can determine that disposition of men and things which 
will result in the moral advancement and ultimate perfection of 
the race. Society must be so reorganized that this "lover of Society 
wisdom" shall control and direct its activities and relationships. ^o°e^ed^b 
Education should aim to develop this sense for ideas in every those possess- 
individual in whom the capacity exists, and should prepare and edge "11" 
direct each individual through the guidance of the philosophers by phiioso- 
for the performance of those duties which by nature he is most ^ ^^^ 
fitted to perform. 

The Republic, or The Dialogue on Justice, is Plato's exposition 
of an ideal society conforming to these requirements. While 
the educational scheme therein expounded has had little insti- 
tutional effect, few books have exercised greater influence over 
the thought hfe of succeeding ages. 

Plato finds in the individual these faculties: the intellect, Psychoiogi- 
whose virtue is prudence; the passions, whose virtue is forti- <^^*°^y^'^ 
tude; the desires or appetites, whose virtue is temperance. 
Therefore, when in the Hfe of the individual the intellect re- 
strains the passions, rules absolutely the desires, and thus con- 
trols action; when the passions serve as an ally of the intellect; 
when the desires render absolute obedience, — then the virtues 
appropriate to each are attained, and justice is maintained in the 
life of the individual. Thus it would be also in society if each 
class, corresponding to these faculties, should perform its Correspond- 
appropriate function. Corresponding to the facuhies of the ^ndTsTs 
individual, there are in society three classes: the philosophical 
class, devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, whose virtue is wis- 
dom; the soldier class, devoted to warfare, whose virtue is honor; 
the industrial class, devoted to trade and crafts, whose virtue 
is money-making. If the philosophical class should rule; the 
soldier class, protect and defend according to the direction of the 
first ; the artisan class, obey and support the other two, — then 
social justice would be attained. 

Membership in these classes is to be determined, however, 



66 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Function of 
education for 
the individual 
and for so- 
ciety 



Details of 
educational 
scheme of 
The Republic 



Permanent 
value found 
in formula- 
tion of idea 
of liberal 
education 



Formal ideal 
only 



by no rule of caste. Through a system of education which dis- 
covers and develops the quahfications of the individual for 
membership in that class for which nature has fitted him, virtue 
in the individual and justice in society are to be obtained. To 
education is thus consciously ascribed a much broader function 
than ever before ; for it now is to provide for the fullest develop- 
ment of personality in the individual and for the maintenance of 
a perfect form of society. Through education the conflict be- 
tween the old and the new Greek life is to be solved. 

The education of children and youth outlined in The Republic 
is similar to that of the Athens of Plato's day. Gymnastics and 
music, the latter consisting of both music and literature carefully 
selected, form the substance of it. Higher education is divided 
into two phases, — scientific and philosophic. The scientific 
period extends approximately over the years from twenty to 
thirty and includes the subjects of arithmetic, geometry, music, 
and astronomy. Following this, five years are to be devoted 
to the study of dialectic, or, as we would say, of philosophy. 
This is the earliest formulation of the curriculum that has re- 
mained in vogue from Plato's time to our own, and his is the 
earliest full discussion of the educational value of these subjects. 

The Laws is another of Plato's educational works. Written 
in his old age, it is reactionary in character and its outline of 
education resembles that of the Old Greek period. 

The Permanent Value of Plato's educational writings is to 
be found in the principles formulated. From his theory of 
ideas and his theory of the good, Plato develops in The Republic 
the fundamental ethical principle that each individual should de- 
vote his life to doing that which by nature he is best fitted to do, 
— that is, to accomplishing his own particular good in life. 
Thus he will attain to that which is the highest for himself and 
accomplish the most for society. From this there follows the 
fundamental pedagogical principle that it is the function of edu- 
cation to determine what each individual is most fitted by nature 
to do, and then to prepare him for this service. This is the for- 



The Greeks. The Liberal EdiLcation 67 

mulation of the Greek ideal of a liberal education. While it 
must be admitted that this solution is but a formal one, yet any- 
practical solution is determined largely by a previous theoretical 
scheme. The value of a clearly formulated theory, which will give 
an ideal to work toward, is clearly indicated by the chaotic condi- 
tion of our educational practice of to-day, which possesses neither 
formal ideal nor unified practice. 

In his scheme Plato provides the same education for women as Education of 
for men and gives one of the earliest defenses of women's edu- '"'omen 
cation. In this, as in other respects, Plato is far beyond his own 
and subsequent times. In many concrete practices, as well as in 
formulation of theory, his educational discussions have shaped the 
ideals of educators of all periods. His dialogues contain the 
chief exposition of the Socratic method. Consequently despite 
the impracticability of the scheme. The Republic must be con- 
sidered as one of the most important educational treatises ever 
written. 

The Practical hifluence of Plato is to be seen in the formation Outcome in 
of the philosophical schools of Athens (p. 75); in the direction ^nrf™hiio- 
which he gave to the work of these schools ; in the determination sopWcai 
of the school curriculum of many following centuries and in the ^^^°°^ 
final formulation of the Greek idea of a liberal education. In 
discarding the practical value of all the subjects of study as 
subordinate to that which they possess as mental disciplines, 
as a means for developing power of thought through use of the 
dialectic method, Plato gave the earhest formulation of the dis- 
ciplinary conception of education as identified with the liberal 
education. It was the disciplinary rather than the liberal use Disciplinary 
of these subjects and the disciplinary rather than the liberal yaiue of sub- 
element in Plato's theories that survived during the Middle Ages. 
In one other respect Plato influenced the education of the follow- 
ing centuries. 

By making it apparent that there might be a life of high aspira- 
tion and endeavor separable from and higher than citizenship, 
the way was prepared for the estabhshment of the Christian 



68 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Influence 
of Plato's 
theory on 
the spread 
of Christian- 
ity 



Aristotle the 
most impor- 
tant of an- 
cient educa- 
tors 



Aim of edu- 
cation in 
knowledge 
functioning 
or in good- 
ness 



Church. Even in The Republic the philosophers were, so to 
speak, outside the ranks of citizenship and exercised their con- 
trol from without by despotic authority. In reality the philoso- 
phers of the Platonic group had httle or no interest in public 
affairs. With the organization of these and similar groups 
of philosophers into schools, an institution extra-state, even 
extra-social, was formed. Membership in these schools came 
to be looked upon not only as permissible, but in the highest 
degree worthy. When the Christian rehgion was intro- 
duced, it was generally considered merely another one of these 
schools, holding peculiar doctrines, following ideals of con- 
duct sharply differentiated from ordinary social customs, and 
considering the type of Hfe represented by it as greatly superior 
to the life of the ordinary citizen. So it found the way well 
prepared, both in theory and in actual practice, by Plato and 
his followers. 

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was the one of these Greek educational 
theorists that had the greatest influence upon subsequent times. 
In his breadth of interests and activities he approximated mod- 
ern times, and by common consent bears the reputation of the best 
educated man of any age. 

Formulation 0] the Educational Ideal. — To Socrates and 
Plato the bond which was to unite individual interest and social 
welfare and thus to serve as the aim of education, was knowledge ; 
to Aristotle this aim was happiness or goodness. To the former, 
the possession of knowledge by the individual constituted 
virtue; to the latter, virtue lay in the attainment of happiness 
or goodness. 

Virtue, then, consisted not in knov/ledge — that is, wise in- 
sight — but in a state of the will. A state of the will is not so 
much a condition as it is a process; hence goodness, the highest 
end attainable by man, is not a condition but an activity. 

Reality to Plato consisted of ideas, — of pure thought. The 
highest possible attainment of an individual, then, was knowl- 
edge. Reahty with Aristotle consisted in the accomplishment 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 69 

of its end by any given object, entity or fact, — in the perform- Reality not 
ance of its appropriate or highest function. Hence reality is yeas'func- 
activity, or performance of function, or a "becoming," whether tioning 
it be a phenomenon of nature (physical) or of man (social). 

The good for man is the functioning of the highest part of Goodness of 
man's nature, that is, his reason. The reason functions when it intellect and 

' goodness of 

controls conduct. Consequently there are two kinds of good- character 
ness, "goodness of intellect" and "goodness of character." 
The first of these is produced and increased by teaching and is These unite 
the product of experience and time. Goodness of character is ^ddaesJ)tid 
the outcome of habit. As nature does not give to some or elements into 
withhold from some goodness of character, every man is capable °"^ ' ^^ 

. of attaining or receiving this goodness by formation of right 
habits. Goodness as a whole consists, then, in well-being and 
well-doing. Well-being is the goodness of the intellect, connected 
closely with possession of the universal truth of the Platonic 
school and providing for the development and the welfare of the 
individual. Well-doing is the goodness of action, acquired 
through habituation, and represents the social aspect of the ideal. 
Virtue does not consist in mere knowledge of the good, but in 
the functioning of this knowledge, — of ideas or principles. In 
this respect Aristotle, while a foreigner to Athens, represents 
more truly than Plato the common attitude of the Greeks pre- 
viously mentioned, in considering goodness as some form of 

* efficiency or excellency, as some superiority in conduct rather than 
in a state of mind. 

Happiness is the result of such activity, of such functioning of Happiness, 01 
ideas, in actual hfe. Consequently man's highest excellence, his p^'^p^'" ^^^iv- 
goodness, is again found to be the putting into operation, in his come 
life with his fellows, of these ideas or principles of conduct of 
universal vahdity. Thus Aristotle gives the most perfect solu- 
tion of the problem of life and the problem of the aim of educa- 
tion that was accomplished by the Greeks. 

The Method of Education. — In brief, the method of Aris- 
totle is objective and scientific, as opposed to the philosophical 



70 Brief Course in the Histoiy of Education 



riie objec- 
livc, scicn- 
lific method 
favored 



Kormulatioii 
of the induc- 
live method 



rractical 
apiilicationof 
the inductive 
mctliod 



Educational 
scheme of 
rh< Poli- 
ths cx- 
trcnicly prac- 
tical 



or inlrospcclive method of Plato. Plato seeks truth through the 
direct vision of reason and seeks the conHrmaiion of reason only 
in the consciousness of man. Aristotle seeks truth in the objec- 
tive facts of nature and of social life as well as in the soul of man, 
and seeks conlirmation primarily in the historic consciousness of 
the race. 

To Aristotle the dialectic method of Plato, which sought 
truth in the supersensuous region of mind, produced truth 
of only formal value; he, on the contrary, sought for truth 
in the exi)erience of the race, and developed as his method the 
inductive process. This he applied both objectively and sub- 
jectively. The Socraiic dialectic had been ai)plied only to the 
thought world. Aristotle lust found the meaning of his terms 
and of his facts in the general consciousness of mankind. Then 
he sought for conlirmation by the introspective process. The 
inductive and deductive processes of reason had been distin- 
guished previously and, of course, as modes of thought, had been 
coextensive in their history with the history of the human race. 
But with Aristotle they became conscious procedures. He it 
was that first formulated the logic of each. 

Not only more widely than an}' man previous to his times, 
but also more widely than any man in subsequent ages, Aristotle 
used this inductive process. Since in the formulation of his 
philosojihical system he applied it to all previous systems of 
Greek thought, he represents the culmination of the Greek intel- 
lectual life; and. on the other hand, since he applied it exten- 
sively to wholly new lields of investigation, he became the father 
of modern science. 

The Organization of Education, approved by Aristotle, is 
given in 77/(? Politics. Horc, as with Plato, the system of edu- 
cation forms a component part of the system of the state. Not 
for more than two thousand years after this period is education 
again considered as a function of the state and treated as a part 
of politics. 

The scheme approved by Aristotle is composed of elements 



The Greek. The Liberal Educalion 71 

drawn chiefly from Athenian education and is similar in many 
respects to that of Plato. The child until six years of age 
should be trained by the parent. Beyond this period it should 
be controlled by the government, but at the same time the parent 
is also responsible for the moral education. 

Gymnastic training should aim to develop good habits and 
control of the passions and appetites ; it should not aim at mere 
superiority in athletics nor at the development of the roughness 
and ferocity of soldiers. The traditional subjects of music and 
literature are accepted as the appropriate means for moral and 
the earlier stage of intellectual education. 
• All citizens are to share in this education alike, though slaves 
and artfsans cannot attain to citizenship and hence not to tlie 
good life, since "it is not possible to care for the things of virtue 
while living the life of the artisan or the slave." 

The details of the higher education, that of the rational part The Poiuks 
of the soul, — the one phase of education which was an end in °^J^^ ^^^' 
itself and constituted the good for all the rest, — are not given. 
The treatise ends here abruptly, and that subject upon which 
Aristotle, above all others, could have thrown light, is left with 
mention only. From his other discussions, however, we know 
that this higher education would contain a large element of Higher edu- 
mathematics, — especially of geometry, because of its training ^^J^^g^j""*^ 
in deductive reasoning, — and also of the two mathematical 
sciences, physics and astronomy. From Aristotle's own exam- 
ple we may presume that it would include the biological sciences 
and, above all, dialectic, including both the philosophical and 
the logical studies so thoroughly developed in his own school. 

Following this theoretical or intellectual education, or rather The educa- 
along with it, comes the practical education in citizenship. ^""^'^^ . 

_ ^_ ' ^ >^ soaal service 

This includes two types of activities, the practical or executive of the adult 
and the theoretical or legislative and judicial. The citizen 
develops from the former into the latter and comes to devote 
more and more of life to purely intellectual pursuits. Finally 
those best acquainted with divine things enter the priesthood. 



"12 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Aristotle the 
first great 
scientist 



Formulation 
of logical 
tools and 
terminology 



Beginm"ngs 
of the natural 
sciences 



Influence on 
the Middle 
Ages and 
subsequent 
times 



Thus gradually the practical life passes into the "speculative," 
and the lesser goods are developed into the highest good of all, 
— the life good in itself. 

Practical Influence oj Aristotle. — It was no figure of speech 
that Dante used when he termed Aristotle "the master of those 
who know." The Ethics, the science of "well-being," and The 
Politics^ the science of "well-doing," have exerted a profound 
influence upon the intellectual life of man at all subsequent 
periods. Aristotle was the first great scientist — the greatest 
systematizer, in fact, that the world has ever known. The basis 
for scientific thought in any line of intellectual activity was first 
consciously formulated by Aristotle in his Organon, a series of 
treatises on logic. So fundamental was Aristotle's influence in 
these respects that the scientific thinker as well as the person in 
everyday life is indebted to him for many of the most expressive 
terms in language. Such words as "end," indicating the final pur- 
pose or cause, the term " final cause" to indicate end in this sense, 
the word "form," the word "matter "and the term " subject-mat- 
ter" as we use it in education (from the term indicating the timber 
which the carpenter uses), such words as "principle," "maxim," 
"motive," "faculty," "energy," "habit," "category," "mean" 
and "extreme" are all the results of his efforts to systema- 
tize knowledge. 

Through the partial formulation of the inductive method 
and the application of thought to new phases of reality, almost 
wholly neglected before his times, Aristotle became the origina- 
tor of many modern sciences. Among those upon which he 
wrote treatises are physiology, mechanics, natural philosophy, or 
physics in its broader principles, and the corresponding biologic 
science, natural history. 

Universally recognized as the greatest of the ancients, Aristotle 
was supreme down to the time of the fifteenth-century Renais- 
sance. Through scholasticism (Chapter IV, Sec. 4) his work 
became the basis of all studies and of all educational institutions 
during the Middle Ages. In fact, it might be said that during 



influence 
not so great 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 73 

those ages all secular writings, save a few by this one man and a 
few others that were based directly upon his, dropped out of 
human interests. 

His immediate influence in Greece was not so fundamental, immediate 
His school of adherents, the Peripatetics, did not rise to his 
standard, made little or no use of induction, and spent their time 
in writing commentaries or fruitless interpretations and adapta- 
tions, mostly upon isolated topics. The writings of the master 
were carried to Asia Minor (287 B.C.) where for nearly two hun- 
dred years they were lost. When finally recovered, they found 
their way to the Alexandrian library and later to Rome. 
Through translations into Arabic the knowledge of Aristotle 
was kept alive among the Saracens. This study first centered at 
Bagdad, but later flourished throughout their empire, and was 
carried into Spain. During the early university period this 
Saracen learning brought about a revival of the interest of 
European peoples in the master and purified their knowledge 
of his works. 

THE COSMOPOLITAN PERIOD OF GREEK EDUCATION. — Culture and 
General Characteristics. — The period of transition included Jua/Sn' 
about one hundred years. By the middle of the third century B.C., high esteem, 
the individualistic tendencies had triumphed and the character- aHstkintiieir 
istics of the new education had become fixed. The intellectual nature 
life was held in high esteem; but it was a life of intellectual re- 
tirement. The relation of education to society and the obligations 
of the educated man to his fellows were now forgotten. If this 
was true of the more intelligent and moral classes, it could not 
be expected to be otherwise with those engaged in the practical 
life. For the latter, education had come to be an intellectual 
training to enable one to make the best use of his personal oppor- 
tunities. 

Two general educational features characterize this age, ex- 
tending as it does to the period of the dominance of the Christian 
Church. The first of these characteristics is the : — 

Spread of Greek Culture. — During this period Greek 



'4 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Alexandiine 
conquests 
spread Greek 
culture 



A world cul- 
ture replaces 
the national 
culture 



The second 
new edu- 
cational fea- 
ture: new 
types of 
schools 



The rhetori- 
cal schools 
were the 
practical 
instruments 
of this new 
culture 



Iso crates 
the most 
noted of the 
rhetorical 
teachers 



culture spread throughout the known world. Through the 
mihtary and administrative genius of Alexander the Great the 
preliminary conquest was made; through learning, art and in- 
stitutions the Greek conquest was made permanent. Within 
a century after Alexander's death (323 B.C.) the habits and cus- 
toms of all the East were colored by those of the Greeks. 

Greek schools, Greek theaters, Greek baths, Greek institutions 
of every type, were to be found in every city in the East. At the 
time of the Mohammedan conquest, after almost a thousand 
years of vicissitudes, the city founded to bear the name of the 
conqueror possessed 400 theaters, 4000 palaces, 4000 baths, and 
a library of 700,000 volumes. 

Through the work of the Greeks during this period learning 
became, as it is now, universal; it was the possession of no pecul- 
iar people, and became independent of time and place. 

As culture became universal and education individual in its 
nature, new types of educational institutions came into existence. 

The Rhetorical Schools constituted one of these types. The 
wandering sophists (pp. 55-7), opposed so bitterly by Socrates 
and Plato, flourished for only about a century. By the latter part 
of the fourth century B.C., their work had differentiated and re- 
sulted in the formation of two distinct types of schools, the rhe- 
torical and the philosophical. The work of the sophists and the 
philosophers had given scientific shape to the study of grammar, 
rhetoric and logic. In a brief time this work was formulated 
into a regular course of study with appropriate methods. Numer- 
ous rhetorical schools resulted. By preparing for the practical 
activities of hfe, through training in oratory and in the new 
knowledge of the times, these schools appealed very effectively 
to a large portion of the intellectual class and soon became 
numerous and influential. 

As Socrates formed the transition from the early sophists to 
the philosophical schools, so Isocrates (393-338 B.C.) represented 
a similar transition to the rhetorical schools. There were 
many similar schools before his time. But with him the transi- 



minor ones 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 75 

tion from the teaching methods of the sophists to a distinct type 
of institutional work holding definite aims was complete. The 
school of Isocrates did much toward making Athens the center 
of the intellectual culture of the world; for schools like his con- 
tinued to offer for many centuries the highest practical training 
not only to the Greek, but to the Oriental and to the Roman. 
While these schools were all private, they formed a component 
part of the higher educational system. 

Dialectic and Philosophical Schools differed from the rhetori- Four great 
cal schools in that they afforded a training in argumentative schools^nd 
power. Their interest was in speculative questions of meta- numerous 
physical or ethical import.^ These questions were usually 
debated in private. Consequently such schools had little direct 
bearing upon public welfare; certainly they afforded no train- 
ing for the practical activities of the day. Plato, Aristotle and 
other philosophers gathered around themselves groups of stu- 
dents that were soon organized into schools. Such groups were 
taught first in the public gymnasia and later in private grounds 
attached to these gymnasia. Plato taught in the Academy, 
Aristotle in the Lyceum. Zeno taught in the public porch (stoa) 
of a temple and founded the school of the Stoics; Epicurus 
taught in his own private gardens and founded the school 
of the Epicureans. Many minor schools also grew up. Each 
of these schools of thought, minor as well as major, not only 
embodied an intellectual training, but developed into a sort 
of religious cult. Such groups of philosophical teachers and 
students formed, as it were, secret religious societies which 
aimed to control the conduct as well as to determine the in- 
tellectual life of adherents. Allegiance to these was substi- 
tuted for allegiance to the state, and thus these schools 
assisted in furthering the individualistic tendency at the ex- 
pense of the state. 

The character of the work of these schools became very differ- 
ent from that in the time of their founders. From the very first 

^ See Plato's Dialogues for types. 



76 Brief Course in the History of Education 

Their work the scholarclis — OF hcads of these schools — attempted to set 
that'oTex- foith the ideas of the respective founders. There was httle 
position attempt to apply the ideas of the great teachers in investigation, 
ment^°no research or even in discussion of new topics. Their work came 
longer that of to be morc and more largely that of appreciation and comment. 
andspecu-°" Platonism, Stoicism and Epicureanism adapted themselves to 
lative inquiry phases of Roman ideals of life. But not only did the Lyceum fail 
to develop new doctrine ; it did not succeed in keeping ahve the 
old. For the most part the work of these schools, though di- 
rected toward a different object, became as formal and artificial 
as the work of the sophists. In all there grew up a reverence for 
the written word that had great influence, literary and religious 
as well as educational. Educationally this formalism was a 
distinct decline. 

The Universities of the Grecian world were the out- 
growths of these philosophical and' rhetorical schools. While 
there were several such groups of schools, two alone are worthy 
of special mention and have been given the title of university. 
University of The University of Athens resulted from the combination of 
suits from' three of these schools, the Academy, the Peripatetic school, — 
the combi- as that founded by Aristotle was called, — and the Stoic. Be- 
ephebic^state cause of the depredations of war all had been compelled to 
training and movc into the city. By a combination of the state education 
sophicar of the ephebes (p. 42), — which was now reduced to one year 
schools and had become optional, — with the more intellectual work 

of the philosophical schools a permanent institution was 
formed whose head was elected by the Athenian senate. The 
boys were required to attend lectures in the three philosophical 
schools, and teachers of rhetoric and logic were added. Students 
came to the new school from abroad ; many of these being ill- 
prepared, this gave opportunity for work to numerous private 
teachers, tutors, and assistants. In time there grew up the 
elaborate structure of a university, as we know it in modern 
times. 
The Roman emperors, Vespasian (69-79 a.d.), who first gave 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 77 

imperial support to the university, Hadrian (11 7-1 28 a.d.) imperial sup- 
and the Antonines (138-180 a.d.), were specially interested in university^ 
making the University of Athens the center of learning for the bytheRo- 
Empire. While the professional staff was probably but ten or ™s" ^"^^^^ 
twelve in number, its work was supplemented by that of a large 
number of assistants and instructors, paid from the fees of the 
students, and by that of a large number of pedagogues who at- 
tended the younger and wealthier students. 

Student life was now prolonged to a period from three or four 
to even seven years in length. The ephebic organization de- 
generated into one resembling student clubs or secret societies. 

As the center of classical learning and hence of pagan influ- 
ence, the university aroused the opposition of the early Christian 
emperors and was suppressed by Justinianiin 529 a.d. 

The University of Alexandria, during the earlier Christian University of 
centuries, supplanted Athens as the intellectual center of the fos^fer^d"^ 
world. Under the influence of the Ptolemies (323-30 B.C.), by the 
the purpose of their master Alexander to make this new city the ^° ^"^^^ 
center of Greek influence, of power, and of learning in the East 
was carried out. They founded and supported a museum its great 
and library where men of letters and of science resided at royal ^^^ 
expense. A most extensive collection of Greek, Jewish, Egyp- 
tian, and Oriental manuscripts was secured for this remarkable 
library. 

Not only did Alexandria possess the manuscripts of Aris- Astronomi- 
totle, but here alone, of all these institutions of higher learning, ^nd mathe- 
was the Aristotelian method of investigation employed. To be maticai inves- 
sure, this was during only one or two brief periods and then, for 
the most part, only in the subjects of astronomy and geography. 
Here was formulated the Ptolemaic theory of the universe, which, 
though wrong in its fundamental conceptions, was so nearly right 
in its methods that it served with remarkable accuracy as a basis 
for determining the motion of the heavenly bodies and the pre- 
diction of astronomic events. Here, too, Archimedes of Syra- 
cuse carried on most of his labors and made many of his 



78 Brief Course iji the History of Education 

discoveries in physics. Here Euclid perfected that branch of 
mathematics which bears his name. But for the most part, it 
must be admitted that the work at Alexandria, like that in 
the Grecian philosophical schools, consisted in httle else than 
dreary comment and exposition of what the master or, more 
often yet, the corrupted manuscript version of the master said. 
Influence on Here the early Christian Fathers were educated, and from the 
dan^Church "orth African intellectual centers proceeded that formulation of 
Christian doctrine that is yet accepted as orthodox. 

With the fall of Alexandria into Mahometan power (640 a.d.), 
all this intellectual activity ceased. Some interest, however, 
was transferred to the Arabs, to be revived later in Saracen science 
and philosophy at Bagdad and Cordova. The library was de- 
stroyed by the first cahph, furnishing, it is said, fuel sufficient 
for four thousand public baths for a period of six months. 
Greek cos- FUSION WITH ROMAN EDUCATION. — After the Roman 

edAK:aUon Couqucst (146 B.C.) Greek culture in general was rapidly ap- 
becomesthe propriatcd by the Roman conquerors, and the education of the 
Roman edu- cosmopolitan period extended its boundaries without changing 
cation jts character. In its later phase, when "captive Greece took 

captive her rude conqueror," Roman education is but one aspect 
of the cosmopolitan education of Greece. 

SUMMARY 

The Greeks first worked out the various aspects of personality and strove 
in their education to produce the development of these in the individual 
through education. The full attainment of this purpose was secured through 
a long historical evolution. During the Homeric period Greek, ideals were 
concentrated into the types of the warrior and the councilor, in whom the 
social aspect of the educational ideal was emphasized. The Spartans con- 
tinued this extreme emphasis on the social aspect of education and elabo- 
rated a scheme in which the entire society was organized for educational 
ends. In Athens the individual was given more emphasis; the state de- 
termined the standards, but the family provided the education. Schools 
of two types, one for music and literature, the other for gymnastics, were 
established. After Ionian Greece was brought into close contact with 



The Greeks. The Liberal Education 79 

other peoples, the old conservative educational ideals and practices were 
replaced by those which gave greater scope to the individual. The sophists 
were instrumental in introducing the new educational practices. The Greek 
philosophers, especially Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, attempted to har- 
monize this conflict between the old institutional education and the new 
individualistic one. The result was a statement of the problem of education 
in terms of the present time. While their discussion of educational aims, 
methods and subject-matter has had profound influence from that time to 
the present, the suggestions of the Greek theorists as to educational organi- 
zation had little immediate effect. The individualistic tendency continued 
until checked on the political side by the Roman Empire and on the moral 
side by Christianity. But before this time the Greek education afid culture 
had become cosmopolitan in character. 



TK 



80 Brief Course in the History' of Education^ 



Chronological Survey of Roman and Early Christian Education 





Poets, 


Philosophers, 


Writings 




Political Events 


Dramatists, 


Moralists, 


Possessing 


Educational 


AND Personages 


Historians, 


Church 


Educational 


Events 




ETC. 


Fathers, etc 


Significance 




Traditional founding 








Laws of Twelve 


of city . . .753 








Tables . . . 451 


Kings . . 753-509 








First mention of 


Decemvirs . . 451 








Ludus . . . 449 


Censors . . . 444 










Italian Wars 343-272 










300 B.C. 


Andronicus 




Latinized 


Andronicus reaches 


Punic Wars 264-146 


c. 284-i:. 204 




Odyssey . c. 250 


Rome . . . 272 


Death of Cato . 148 


Naevius 




Plautus. 


Spurius Carvilius 


Conquest of 


c. 264-194 




Bacchides 189 


founds school . 260 


Greece . . . 146 


Plautus 254-184 




Cato, de Agricul- 


First Latin play 


Reforms of the 


Ennius . 239-169 




tura, earliest 


at Rome . 240 


Gracchi . 132-121 


Cato . 234-148 




work in Latin 


Paulus jEmilius 


Social War . 91-89 


Terence 189-159 




prose . c. 175-150 


brings Greek 


War of Marius and 


Lucretius 97-53 




Varro, 


library to Rome 167 


Sulla . . 89-79 


Varro . 116-27 




Disciplinar7tm 


Crates est. first gram. 


First Triumvirate 59 


Cicero . 106-53 




libri novem 


school and teaches 


Caesar's 


Nepos . 99-54 




'^- « 


Greek . . . 167 


conquests . 58-52 


Sallust . 86-34 




Cicero, 
de Oratore . 55 


Greek rhetoricians 
expelled . . 161 

First private 
library . . <r. 150 

Censors expel Latin 
rhetor'cians . 92 


55 B.C. 


Caesar . 100-44 


Seneca 


Horace, Odes and 


First public 


Conspiracy of 


Virgil . 70-19 


54 B.C.-39 A.D. 


Satires 35-8 B.C. 


library ... 39 


Catiline ... 52 


Horace. . 68 8 


Epictetus 


Tacitus, 


Palatine Library 


War of Cxsar and 


Sallust . 86-34 


fl. c. 90 A.D. 


de Oratoribus 


founded . . . 28 


Pompey . 49-48 


Ovid 


Marcus Aurelius 


79 A.D. 


First Imperial 


Death of Caesar . 44 


43 B.C.-18 A.D. 


121-180 


Quintilian, support of 


Second 


Livy 


Tertullian 


de Oratoria 96 


schools c. 75 A.D. 


Triumvirate . 43 


59 BC.-18 A.D. 


c. 150-230 


Martial, 


Antoninus Pius 


Reign of Augustus 


Pliny, tlie 


Clement of 


Epigrams 90-99 


subsidizes educa- 


31 B C.-14 A.D. 


Elder 23-79 


Alexandria 


Pliny, 


tion in the 


Tiberius r. 14-37 .\.'0. 


Quintilian 


c. 150-t. 215 


Epistles . 97-ioS 


Provinces 138 161 


Nero . . r. 54- 68 


35 A.D.-95 


Cyprian 


Juvenal, 


Caracalla destroys 


Vespasian r. 69 79 


Tacitus 


c. 200-255 


Satires 100-126 


foundation of 


Trajan . ?-. 98-117 


C. 55 A.D. -120 


Origen . 185-254 


Suetonius, Lives 


Alexandrian 


Hadrian r.i 17-138 


Plutarch 46-^25 


Plotinus 204-270 


of Rh eto ric ia n s 


University . . 217 


Antonines r. 138-180 


Pliny, the 


Porphyry 


c. 121 


Severus appoints 


Public sale of 


Younger 


233-<r. 301 


Marcus Aurelius, 


teachers of 


Empire . . . 193 


61-105 




Meditations 


mathematics at 


Roman citizenship 


Juvenal 




c. 161 


Rome . . . 218 


conferred on all free 


<r. 55-140 




Tertullian, Pre- 


Constantine extends 


provincials . . 212 


Suetonius 




scription Against 


privileges of 


Absolute mniiirchy 


c. 75-160 




Heresies 


teachers 


of Diocletian 284-305 






Clement, The 


321, 326, 333 


Constantine 






Educator, 




r. 306-337 






Stromata, etc. 




313 A.D. 


Eusebius 


Basil . 331-374 


Jerome, Letters, 


Julian licenses 


Toleration of 


265-340 


Ambrose 340-397 


to Lata, to 


teachers and 


Christianity . 313 


Ausonius 


Gregory of 


Gaudentius, 


forbids Christians 


Council of Nicaea 325 


c. 310-C. 393 


Nyssa 


etc. 


teaching . . 361 


Julian the 


Symmachus 


c. 343-<r. 394 


Donatus, 


Gratian orders 


Apostate 361-363 


<-• 345-405 


Jerome . 331-420 


Grammar 


payment of 


Goths invade 


ApoUonius 


Chrysostom 


c. 400 


teachers' salaries 


Empire . . 376 


Sidonius 


344-404 


Augustine, 


in provincial 


Final div. ofEmp. 395 


c. 430-480 


Augustine 


Confessions 


capitals and 


Exposure of infants 


Martianus 


354-430 


Capella, 


est.iblishes 


prohibited . . 374 


Capella 




Marriage of 


schedule of 


Last Roman 


fl. c. 500 




Philology and 


salaries . . . 376 


triumph . . 404 






Mercury 


Death of 


Alaric sacks 






Priscian, 


Hypatia . . 415 


Rome . . . 410 






Gramtnar 


All teachers to be 


Battle of Chalons 451 






f. 500 


licensed . . . 425 


Empire combined 








Syriac commentaries 


with the East 476 








on Aristotle . 450 



CHAPTER IT 



TETE ROMANS. ESWCATION AS TRAINING FOR PRACTICAL LIFE 



GENERAL CHARACTER OF ROMAN EDUCATION.— 

Dominant Institutions and the Genius of the People. — The 

genius of the Romans was a wholly practical one. The great 
merit of the Romans was that they accomplished concrete 
results by adapting means to ends. The Roman was not one 
who found satisfaction in the attainment for its own sake to a 
subjective state, — a state of happiness, a life of contemplation, 
of aesthetic enjoyment, of intellectual activity. More char- 
acteristic of his genius' was the striving for some external object; 
the accomplishment of some concrete purpose lying outside 
of his, own thought life. He strove for some form of excellence 
or achievement of material value to his fellows, and similarly 
striven for by them. 

The Greeks defined those things that have been deemed by 
all ages the most worthy objects of the present life. Among 
these are aesthetic enjoyment, intellectual power, moral per- 
sonahty, pohtical freedom, and that social excellence, called 
culture. The work of the Romans was the practical one of 
furnishing the means, the institutions, for realizing these ideals. 
Hence they have ever been looked upon as a utihtarian people. 

Roman Standard of Judgment. — Contrasted with the Greek 
tendency to measure all things by the standard of reasonable- 
ness, or harmony, or proportion, we have the Roman tendency 
to judge ever by the usefulness or the effectiveness of a thing. 
For this reason the Romans tended to look upon the Greeks as 
a visionary, unpractical people, while the Greeks considered 
G 8i 



The prac- 
tical genius 
of the Ro- 
mans con- 



82 Brief Course in the History of Education 

the Romans somewhat as sordid barbarians, with force of char- 
acter and military strength, but with no appreciation of the 
higher aspects of hfe. 
Romans for- Contributions of Rome to Civilization. — The permanent 
muiated contributions of the Romans to civihzation were, then, of two 

laws, institu- ' ' 

tions, and great typcs. (i) Through their development and organization 
pracdcai vir- ^^ ^^^ ^^^Y fumishcd that institutional organization of life 
tues that serves to a large extent as the basis of modern social life. 

(2) Through their influence on the practical virtues, chiefly 
by means of the law and the state, but also later by the adapta- 
tion of the Stoic philosophy and the propagation of the Christian 
religion, they contributed to the exaltation of the moral con- 
ception of life. Thus it follows that they have exerted much 
less of permanent influence on education, in the narrower 
sense, than have the Greeks. No science, no speculative phi- 
losophy, no contribution to the abstract intellectual or aesthetic 
elements in education followed from their conception of hfe 
and of religion. Their whole influence was the practical one of 
adaptation and organization. 
The five Roman Ideal of Education shown in their Conception of 

Roman°^ ^^'^ Rights and Duties. —The rights of the Roman citizen were five 
citizen in number and all clearly defined by law. These were : the right 

of the father over his children (patria potestas); the right of the 
husband over his wife (manus); the right of the master over 
his slaves (potestas dominica); the right of one freeman over 
another which the law gave him through contract or through 
forfeiture (manus capere); and the right over property (do- 
minium). The freeman received these rights by birth ; but after 
the earlier centuries they could also be acquired either by 
naturalization or adoption or by enfranchisement. The duties 
of a Roman citizen corresponded to and grew out of his rights. 
The duties Now all of the dutics of the father and of the citizen neces- 
correiative sitatcd a definite training through the years of boyhood in 
rights order that the appropriate abilities or virtues might be developed. 

Only to a sHght extent was this training furnished by the school 



Tke Romans. The Practical Education 83 

even in the later periods. Yet a definite education of positive 
character and great value was furnished by the home. 

Elements in this Educational Ideal. — In the performance of 
these duties certain definite virtues or moral characteristics 
were demanded. These were all of an extremely practical char- 
acter and were formulated from an actual living type. Man- 
hood, as exemplified in living men, in well-known historical 
personages, or in mythical heroes, furnished the standards 
which the youth was expected to approximate. 

Foremost of these virtues was that of piety or obedience, virtues of 
Piety comprised both the religious idea of reverence and the P'^^y- ^°^: 
notion of fihal regard for parental control. Together with ness 
modesty it approximated the Greek idea of reverence, the 
balance or harmony of conduct. Manliness, or firmness, or 
what we term character (constantia) was a virtue valued by 
the Romans and exemplified in their fives more than by any 
other ancient people. 

As a result of this, the other virtue of bravery or courage had Courage, 
much more of the idea of fortitude than did the correspond- ^^''titude, 

~ , . , , prudence, 

mg Greek ideal. Since " Rome must never conclude a peace honesty, 
save as victor;" so no Roman must ever voluntarily quit a earnestness 
strife before having vanquished. Here was none of the fear 
of excess that characterized the Greek. To these virtues were 
added two more homely ones, characteristic of a practical people 
only and growing out of a life of industrial activity, where 
actual participation in the toil of life was considered a duty 
and not a disgrace. These were prudence, especially in the Duty the 
management of one's business affairs, and honesty or fair comprehen- 

■,...■,, sive virtue 

dealmg m all economic relations. Earnestness (gravitas), 
sobriety in conduct, or dignity of bearing was substituted for the 
Greek idea of gracefulness. Viewed from the standpoint of the 
individual, all these virtues were summed up in the ideal of 
duty; from the standpoint of the state, in the ideal of justice. 
Though at the beginning the Greek ideal of virtue was largely 
that of devotion to the state, the ideal of physical bravery soon 



Influence 
of the 
mother 



84 Brief Course in the History of Edtccatiojz 

ceased to be its chief element; their moral ideal was ever for- 
mulated in some form of virtue in terms of personal satisfaction. 
In time their ideal came to be formulated in terms of hap- 
piness or in terms of intellectual activity. The Roman ideal, 
on the other hand, ever continued to keep as its basal element 
the idea of bravery or of virtue in the sense of devotion to the 
state. Virtue, then, in terms of duty, as stated in principles 
or in laviT, remained the Roman conception of life. Life in 
terms of personal virtue is the ideahstic formulation of life; 
life in terms of duty is the moral conception of life as formulated 
by the practical man. 

The Practical Education. — The Home as the Center of Edu- 
cation. — In a conception of education that has to do for the 



ffi^;,. jj^^^i^^^ 



Life of a Roman from Infancy to Manhood 

From a Sarcophagus. (School life in the center) 

most part with the formation of moral character, schools can 
hold but a minor place as an educational means. And so it 
was at Rome. Their place was taken by other institutions, 
chiefly the home. The power of the father exalted his functions 
and made the family the social unit, even in many legal respects. 
The moral importance of the home, as well as its legal and social 
importance, was emphasized. The father was responsible for 
the moral and physical training of the boy. The mother held 
a position far superior to the place of women in Greece. Within 
the home she was dignified with a position of independence 
and responsibility. She was more the companion of her husband 
socially and more his partner in his management of the home 
than in Greece. She herself reared and cared for her own 
children, instead of turning them over to a nurse. The boy, 



The Romans. The Practical Education 85 

when somewhat grown up, became the companion of his father , 
instead of being turned over to a slave or pedagogue, as with the 
Greeks. 

Biography as a Means. — The influence of the home was sup- The use of 
plemented by that of concrete t^^pes of Roman manhood. No biography 

^ ■' -^ ^ embodied 

Other people have so effectively used the personages of importance in early 
in their own history in forming the character of the youth ^"'^^'^ 
of each generation. Their earliest literature consisted of the hymns and 
legends and heroic tales of the early Romans. Their songs were ^^^''^^^^^ 
but the glorification of these same deeds. Something similar 
to this occurred in Greece in the earlier period. The Grecian 
heroes, however, were demigods or were constantly protected 
by the interposition of the gods, and hence were beyond imi- 
tation by the wiser men of later generations. The Roman 
heroes, on the other hand, possessed virtues and performed 
deeds such as could be imitated by every Roman boy. 

Imitation as the Method. — From what has been said it The Roman 
follows that the most important characteristic of the method "^pi^asized 

^ the impor- 

of Roman education was imitation. While the Greeks empha- tance of im- 
sized the assimilative character of the soul and hence sought '"^•^'^^^ 

o associates; 

educational results by creating an environment of cultural value the Greeks, 
through public works of art, religious ceremonials, dramatic ° \ ^ ^^"" 

01 7 o J eral environ- 

presentations, and a free and open life in public places, the ment 
Romans emphasized the imitative character of the soul and 
hence sought educational results by placing before the youth a 
concrete character to be followed. Though the pedagogue and 
the inspirer performed a somewhat similar service with the 
Greeks, yet the function of these was rather to control and 
direct; this was true at least of the pedagogue, who, because a 
slave, was not to be imitated. The Roman youth was to be- 
come pious, grave, reverential, courageous, manly, prudent, 
honest, by the direct imitation of his father and of old Romans 
of so heroic a character as to be embodied in their legends and 
histories, yet withal men who had actually walked the streets 
and had gathered in the Forum. 



86 Brief Course in the History of Education 

Training, or In One Other important respect does the method of Roman 
the doing education differ from that of the Greeks. With both peoples 

side, more . ^ ^ 

important education was primarily a process of doing as opposed to one 
than instruc- £ instruction. Certain activities were undertaken to form cer- 

tion 

tain approved habits. Subsequent to this earher phase of their 
educational development, the Greeks added a process of in- 
struction to make such habits rational; this the Romans never 
developed as a component part of their education. Though 
in later periods they adopted the Greek school, it was not a 
native process; it neither formed an essential part of their con- 
ception of education nor became of general use and significance 
until well on in the imperial period. 
The activi- Then, too, there was a radical difference between the " doing " 
ties used in process of the Greeks and that of the Romans. The Romans 

education >■ 

were a direct rejected as marks of effeminacy, gymnastic training, dancing, 
tndn^n^for ^lusic, Hteraturc; in brief, all such educational means as the 
\ the activities Greeks employed. Through games, it is true, the Roman boy 
* " * ' ^ gained in physical development to a certain extent ; but not 
through any organized and systematized use of them. There 
were no gymnasia. Physical development was secured on 
the martial fields and in the camp, and througji actual exercise 
with weapons, supplemented by the actual training of real life 
on the farm. In every respect the training of boys was either 
through an apprenticeship to the soldier, the farmer, the states- 
man, or by actual participation in those activities that were 
later required of them as citizens. Thus in method we see 
the characteristic of the practical education, — the doing of 
the actual thing to be done. They had no appreciation whatever 
of training and instruction in certain selected activities that 
possess cultural value because they plant in the very nature of 
the child germs of a much fuller development in manhood. 

PERIODS OF ROMAN EDUCATION. — Roman education 
falls into two great time-divisions: one in which its ideals and 
practices were purely Roman, the other in which Greek in- 
fluence was prominent and education became of a composite 



The Romans. The Practical Education Sy 

or cosmopolitan character. Owing to the much more stable 
character of the Romans, this change was more gradual than 
the corresponding one in Greece and affected the masses of the 
people much less radically. 

The dominance of Greek educational practices and insti- Theintro- 
tutions did not become complete until near the fall of the ^y^^^'onof 

^ , Greek edu- 

Republic (31 B.C.). In 55 b.c. Cicero (106-43 B.C.) published cationai 
his work On Oratory, which was the first Roman exposition ^^^a-sand 

'^ ' ^ practices 

of the Greek educational ideal. As Cicero was the first Roman formed the 
to rise to power through oratory, that is by means of the Greek ^^^^ divi- 

^ ° ■' ' ■^ sion line in 

education, this date may well be taken as the dividing point be- Roman edu- 

tween the two eras. Each of these general divisions falls into ^^^^^'^ 
two sub-periods. 

PERIOD OF EARLY ROMAN EDUCATION (776 to about Early Ro- 

2e;o B.C.). — Durincr this period the features of Roman education ^^"^"^"^3,- 

■J ■' or tion largely 

previously described were completely dominant. The rearing moral and 
of the child was in the hands of the mother, the training of the ^°^^^ 
boy in the hands of the father. The home was practically 
the only school, though the boy early became the companion 
of his father in business, pubhc and private, on the street, in 
the forum, and in the camp. Education was largely moral; 
discipline was severe; ideals were rigorous. The slight hterary 
element entering into their education was that connected with 
the rehgious and choral service, and with the Laws of the Twelve 
Tables. These fundamental laws of the republic, adopted j^^ ortance 
451 and 450 B.C., remained the basis of Roman society for of the Laws 
almost a thousand years. In the function they performed, these ^^.gf^g 
laws resembled those of Lycurgus ; though they dealt not with Tables 
education, but with the power of the father, property rights, 
rehgious services, pohtical and mihtary obligations, and similar 
subjects. In the broadest sense, they constituted the frame- Constituted 
work of Roman society and hence embodied the ideals of life y^'"ft.ie 

-' intellectual 

that gave to education its concrete ends. The relation of the training of 
laws to education in the narrower sense consisted, first, in the y^^^^'"^^^ 
definite embodiment of the power of the father over the child 



Brief Course in the History of Education 



The school 
was not es- 
sential; was 
a " diver- 
sion" 



Gradual in- 
troduction 
of Greek 
ideas 



with the 
political 
expansion 
of Rome 



The element- 
ary school 
was a Ro- 
man prod- 
uct 



and his duty concerning his training; second, in the custom 
followed for many generations of requiring every boy to learn 
the tables as they were posted in the Forum and to become 
perfectly familiar with their meaning. This in itself offered no 
insignificant intellectual training. Its practical character, 
however, made such training very different from that which the 
Greek boy acquired from a similar familiarity with Homer. 

During the latter part of this period, elementary schools fur- 
nished the rudiments of the arts of reading, writing, and arith- 
metic. Such elementary schools were known as ludi (hidus, 
— play, sport, or a turning aside),^ a name which indicates 
that their function was only supplementary and that they were 
not essential to the real education of the Roman youth. These 
schools were of a purely private character, and were held in 
some home or in an unfrequented nook or porch of a temple or 
other public building. Even in the matter of training in the 
arts of reading and calculating, these schools evidently rep- 
resented a "diversion" from the ordinary custom of training 
in the home. 

PERIOD OF INTRODUCTION OF GREEK SCHOOLS. — 
The time from the middle of the third century to the middle of 
the first century constituted a period of transition, during which 
Greek customs and ideas were introduced. This period coin- 
cided substantially with the period of national expansion through- 
out the peninsula of Italy. Previous to this time Rome was 
only a local community; after this period Rome became an 
empire which had, necessarily, to acquire a cosmopolitan culture. 
By the time of the opening of this transitional period, the ele- 
mentary schools (schools of the liter ators, they were also called) 
were quite numerous and they soon came to be known as schools 
of the grammatists as well. This of itself indicates that a tran- 
sition was going on. About the opening of this period Livius 
Andronicus (284-204 B.C.) translated the Odyssey into Latin. 

^ A somewhat similar idea is contained in the Greek word for school, — ' 
schole, leisure. 



The Romans. The Practical Education 89 

The book was soon introduced into these schools, giving them 
a more hterary content than they had hitherto possessed. The 
translation of other Greek works followed rapdily; and Latin introduc- 
literature took its rise at the same time. This growth of literary [,-°era°rV *^ 
material soon produced a radical advance in education, namely, element into 
the introduction of the Greek grammar school, distinct from 
the ludus in form and superior to it. The exact time of intro- 
duction is difficult to determine. The Greek Andronicus, pre- The Greek 
viously mentioned, was (in 272 B.C.) brought as a slave to Rome grammar or 

•^ 7 \ » ./ o literary 

from his home in southern Italy, and after securing his freedom schools 
is said to have become a teacher of the Greek and Latin lan- 
guages. Other teachers, of Greek origin, followed; though it is 
probable that these early teachers did little more than give^ome 
slight knowledge of the language and literature, chiefly in trans- 
lation, to a chosen few. Certain it is that by the time of ^le The Greek 
decree of expulsion of philosophers and rhetoricians issued by schooTs^^ 
the Senate in 161 B.C. a higher type of Greek teachers had 
appeared. Thus the Greek grammatical and rhetorical schools 
were both established. 

The subsequent introduction of the Latin rhetorical school not Latin gram- 
only supplemented the work of the Greek rhetorical schools,* ^^^[^^"cai 
but gave a much wider scope to this formal or rhetorical schools 
education, since it affected a much larger portion of the popu- 
lation. In 92 B.C. the censors issued the following decree: — Decree of 

the Senate 

" It is reported to us that certain persons have instituted a new kind of 92 b.c. 

disci phne; that our youth resort to their schools; that they have assumed ^^P^""g 
i-irT-TM-- ... teachers of 

the title of Latin Rhetoricians; and that young men waste their time there grammar 

for whole days together. Our ancestors have ordained what instruction it 

is fitting their children should receive, and what schools they should attend. 

These novelties, contrary to the customs and instructions of our ancestors, 

we neither approve, nor do they appear to us good. Wherefore it appears to 

be our duty that we should notify our judgment both to those who keep 

such schools, and those who are in the practice of frequenting them, that 

they meet our disapprobation." 

That the reception given to these schools had not been a 
hearty one and that their influence was not general until the 



90 Brief Course in the History of Ediication 



Support 
of literary 
schools not 
general 
at first 



The general 
appropria- 
tion of Greek 
learning and 
education 



Work of the 
elementary 
school more 
literary in 
character 



imperial period, is evidenced by the fact that the instances of 
the few notable men who underwent a rhetorical training and 
profited practically by it, such as Cicero, Pompey, Caesar, Mark 
Antony, and even Augustus, are cited by Suetonius as unusual. 
He states that by slow degrees, rhetoric made itself manifest 
as a useful and honorable study, and that many persons de- 
voted themselves to it, both as a means of defense of personal 
rights and as a means of acquiring reputation. The custom 
of sending the youth to Greece to receive this rhetorical training, 
as in the case of Cicero, became estabhshed during this period. 

THIRD OR IMPERIAL PERIOD. THE HELLENIZED 
ROMAN EDUCATION. — During this period, including about 
a half century B.C. and two centuries a.d., the Romans attempted 
to introduce the new wine of Greek culture and intellectual 
activity and individualism into the old bottles of Roman in- 
stitutional life. Never before, perhaps never at any time, has 
one people attempted to appropriate so thoroughly the intel- 
lectual life of another. The native vigor of the Roman char- 
acter made it possible to do this without a complete surrender 
of their own characteristics, and consequently rendered some 
modification of the Greek intellectual and educational char- 
acteristics necessary. The Romans never acquired the intel- 
lectuality, the versatility, or the originality of the Greeks. At 
best, they perfected the form of literature; at worst, their 
education became one of pure form possessing little real value. 
This was true in the later centuries of the empire and is re- 
vealed in their intellectual life and literature. 

The general means by which the Romans appropriated the 
Greek culture was by the adoption of the Greek educational 
institutions. 

The School of the Literator (or Ludimagister). — Even during 
this period this elementary school never attempted to give more 
than the merest rudiments of the arts of reading, writing, and 
calculation. Since reading was taken up in the grammatical 
school as a fine art, it is probable that, when the boy had mas 




A Roman School. From a Mural Decoration at Pompeii 




CAB O^A >Sr I IE QVOXXO DO ECnO i^BO R A>y// 

A Roman Boy's Opinion of the Grammar School 
AS "A Grind" 

A graffito from the walls of the Palace of the Ca;sars. (The legend 
reads ■ - Labor on, little ass, just as I have labored, and may it be 
ol pront to you. ) ^ 



The Romans. The Practical Education 91 

tered the art of reading ordinary prose, he was immediately- 
transferred to the higher school. By the time of Cicero, the 
Laws of the Twelve Tables disappeared from the elementary 
schools, and their place was taken by portions of the Latinized 
Odyssey or by versified moral maxims. 

This phase of education, being non-Grecian, never received 
any general attention, nor such teachers — often mere slaves 
— any pubhc esteem. 

The School of the Grammaticus now became a definitely Definite or- 
formulated educational institution with an elaborate method, a gf^'^^tion 

' of the gram- 
fixed curriculum, and public support. Such schools were of mar schools 

two types; one for the teaching of the Greek language, the other 

for the Latin. Quintihan recommended the learning of the 

Greek language first. The Latin Grammar Schools were to be 

found in every city in the empire, and they remained as one of 

the most persistent institutions of the old pagan civilization until 

the overthrow of Roman culture by the barbarians. The master 

was called a literatus or a grammaticus. The major part Literature, 

of the work of these schools was! as the name indicates, ^^'^toryand 

science m- 

the study of grammar. But grammar mcluded more than the eluded under 

term signiiies with us, for it related to the study of both the g''^^™^ 

linguistic elements and the literary products of the language. 

And literature might be — and certainly was in the conception 

of Quintihan — a broader concept than with us. It included 

the work of the historians and of the scientific writers as well 

as of the poets. 

For the Romans, the world of learning had become iden- other prac- 
tical in outline with that of the Greeks. It is certain that ^icai subjects 

mtroduced 

to some extent mathematics, music, and rudimentary dialectics into the 
were introduced into the grammar schools. In all of the studies g^f°^°^^'^ 

° school 

mentioned, the practical character of Roman life was never lost 
sight of ; their use never became identical with that in the Greek 
schools. Gymnastics and dancing were never introduced; the 
former was taught only in connection with military training, 
and the latter, if ever, in the home. 



92 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Training in 
declamation 



Preparation 
for duties 
of orator, 
lawyer and 
public 
ofi&cial 



Wide scope 
of the func- 
tion of the 
orator 



Through the training in declamation the work of the gram- 
matical school merged into that of the rhetorical school. But 
in its main purpose the former was different from the latter; 
in the grammatical school the object was to give a mastery of 
the language, a correctness of expression in reading, in writing, 
and in speaking, and to do this through a familiarity with the 
best Greek and Latin authors. Thus the literary education 
developed by the Greeks as the highest form of the liberal edu- 
cation was further developed along the definite line of a practical 
education for the life of affairs. 

The School of the Rhetor was the culmination of this practical 
hterary education. Similar to the schools of the sophists, or 
of the later rhetoricians of Greece, these schools furnished a 
direct preparation for the life of affairs at Rome by a 
thorough training in oratory. Consequently they were patron- 
ized only by those who expected to devote their lives to a pubhc 
career. During the later imperial period such a life became 
the distinctive characteristic of the members of the senatorial 
class. 

To the Roman, the power of the orator represented the various 
ways in which an educated m.an in modern times can make his 
knowledge effective in the service of his fellow-men. It is not 
so much that the Roman conception of education is narrow, 
but rather that the social organization of the times gave but 
few facilities for bringing intellect to bear upon practical affairs. 
The great warriors of the times were also great orators ; indeed, 
they were often great leaders because they were great orators. 
The orator was greater than the philosopher, because the orator 
included the philosopher. The functions performed in modern 
society by the pulpit, the press, the rostrum, the bar, the legis- 
lative debate, even by the university, were in those times all 
performed by the orator. Hence at its best the Roman ideal 
was a great one. It is only when we come to consider its 
ordinary realization that it appears formal, artificial, and 
restricted. 



The Romans. The Practical Education 93 

The rhetorical training of the youth began at about the Attended by 
fifteenth year of age, the time the boy laid aside the toga pratexta ^j^^™"^ 
and assumed the dress of manhood. Then, if destined for a of age 
public career, he entered the rhetorical school to supplement 
the thorough linguistic training he had received in the grammar 
schools. The length of time spent on this stage of education 
would depend upon his interests, his abihties, and the schools 
he attended. 

The routine of the school consisted for the most part in dec- Routine 
lamation and debate. At its best, however, the rhetorical work of 

these schools 

school included much more than this exercise in debate. Ac- 
cording to Quintilian, the grammar school should thoroughly 
acquaint the boy with all literature; and the rhetorical school, 
in a similar manner, should give him a knowledge of music, 
of arithmetic, of geometry, of astronomy, and of philosophy. 
Quintilian enumerates the qualifications of the orator as follows : 
a knowledge of things (gained through a mastery of hterature); 
a good vocabulary and an ability to make careful choice of 
words ; a knowledge of human emotions and the power of arous- 
ing them; a gracefulness and urbanity of manners; a knowl- 
edge of history and of law; a good delivery; a good memory. 
Beyond this he holds, also, that no one can be a good orator 
unless he is first a good man. 

Libraries and Universities. — In a most literal sense the higher Libraries 
education of Rome was an imitation of Greece- Its earlier ^^^^^ ^^ 

1-1 • I •^ r 1 A-i 1 • T spoils from 

libraries were taken as spoils from the Greeks, just as the earhest the Greeks 
of its higher teachers were slaves or refugees from Greece as a 
result of the Roman conquest. In 167 B.C. the conqueror 
Paulus ^mihus brought over the first of these libraries; Sulla 
and later conquerors brought others. Augustus founded two 
public libraries. During the golden age of Latin literature, 
books multiplied, many libraries were founded, and all the 
appurtenances of an age of culture abounded. With the library 
founded by Vespasian (69-79 a.d.) in the Temple of Peace, Vespasian 
erected after the fire of Nero, the university of Rome had its origin. 



94 Brief Cotcrse hi the History of Education 



University 
studies 



Universities 
only in 
Greek 
centers 



Grammati- 
cal and rhe- 
torical 
schools in 
alnaost every 
town 



Imperial 
and munici- 
pal support 



Imperial 
subsidy 
made gen- 
eral 



Under Hadrian (i 17-138 a.d.) and the later, emperors interested 
in literature and education, this was developed into a definite 
institution termed the Athenaeum. More attention was given 
to law and medicine than to philosophy. The liberal arts, 
especially grammar and rhetoric, were fully represented both in 
the Latin and in the Greek languages. Later, teachers of archi- 
tecture, mathematics, and mechanics were appointed by the 
emperors, — at least by Alexander Severus. These lines of 
instruction represented the entire work of the university. There 
was nothing in the way of investigation or of creative speculation. 
All instruction consisted in formal discipline such as was given 
in the lower schools or in the mere exposition of the subject as 
organized by the Greeks. 

While grammar and rhetorical schools were distributed over 
the provinces, the same cannot be said of the universities. 
Aside from those in the Greek centers of culture, all of which 
were in the East except Massiha (the modern Marseilles), there 
were no other universities under the Roman regime. The estab- 
lishment of libraries in provincial towns was an occasional 
occurrence. 

Support of Schools by the Empire. — Although the number 
of schools increased during imperial times to such an extent that 
scarcely one provincial town was without its grammar school, 
yet it can hardly be said that a system of schools existed. There 
was no governmental oversight of these schools; there was no 
compulsion in their establishment. But owing to the fact that 
the government, both imperial and municipal, came to the sup- 
port of these schools, many of them lost their private character 
and in that sense may be said to have constituted a system. 

Several of the early emperors followed the example of Ves- 
pasian in building up the Athenaeum. But Antoninus Pius 
(138-161 A.D.) was the first to systematize the encouragement 
to education and to extend it to lower schools. He conferred 
upon a Hmited number of grammarians, rhetoricians, and phi- 
losophers in provincial capitals and smaller cities many of the 



The Romans. The Practical Education 95 

privileges of the senatorial class. These privileges included ex- Privileges of 
emption from taxation and other governmental burdens. Con- extended to 
stantine (r. 306-337 a.d.) extended these privileges and made them teachers 
the basis of the privileges of the Christian clergy. In many 
cases, Gratian (367-383 a.d.) duplicated from the imperial 
treasury the amount contributed from municipal treasuries 
for the support of schools. In 376 the same emperor established 
a salary schedule for teachers throughout the empire. The 
apostate Julian (361-363) required the certification of teachers Certification 
as a means of ehminating Christian teachers from pagan schools. ^^ ^l 
In 425 Theodosius and Valentinian made the imperial govern- empire 
ment the sole authority in the establishment of schools and 
declared any attempt to found a school by a private party to 
be a penal offense. This is the nearest approach made to an 
imperial system of schools. But by this time educational and 
intellectual interests had dechned, and schools had ceased to 
have the influence and importance they formerly possessed. 
Yet these steps in the building up of the system parallel quite 
closely those taken by the few modern governments, such as ^y 
Germany and France, that have built up a state system of schools. 

Educational Writers during the Imperial Period. — The lit- 
erature on Roman education is much less abundant and less 
important than that on Greek. Seneca is the one writer whose 
point of view would be likely to approximate most nearly that 
of the Greeks. Although he considers education to be in close 
contact with life, he has httle to suggest except stray observations, 
full of truth and still often quoted, but offering no underlying 
principles of education. Among his famous maxims are these : 
"We should learn for life not for school;" "We best learn by 
teaching;" "The result is gained sooner by example than by 
precept." 

The remainder of the literature falls into two general classes. Educational 
The first includes incidental references to educational customs 5^^^,''^"'^^^., 

in Latin bt- 

and institutions. Our information concerning the education of erature 
the Romans is drawn, for the most part, from brief reference 



g6 Brief Course in the History of Education 

scattered throughout Latin literature, beginning with Plautus, 
and including among the writers of the first two centuries 
of the Christian era, Horace, Martial, Juvenal, Seneca, 
Suetonius, Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, and Marcus Aurelius. 
In the other class are included the theoretical or scientific 
discussions of the problem of education as it appealed to the 
Romans. The most important of these are the de Oratore of 
Cicero, the de Oratoribus of Tacitus, and the de Institutione 
Oratoria of Quintihan. The latter is really the first scientific 
exposition of the whole problem of education, including pur- 
pose, method, curriculum, and organization, ever written. 
It consists of the most matter-of-fact discussions of all problems 
relating to the school and is entirely typical of a practical people. 

Quintilian (35-95 a.d.) was not only the most prominent writer 
on education, but the most successful of Roman teachers. He 
was among the rhetors first subsidized by Vespasian and was 
given the highest marks of esteem by his contemporaries. 
Though he acc^uired great wealth through his teaching, !ic did 
not claim that he possessed great originality, but rather that 
in his practices, as later in his writings, he summed up the best 
results of the work of his predecessors.^ 

FOURTH PERIOD. DECLINE OF ROMAN EDUCATION. — 
In form, this Grecianized Roman education continued to flourish 
and to dominate until the extinction of the Roman imperial 
power in the West during the fifth and sixth centuries. In 
spirit, the dechne began with the gradual loss of liberty by the 
Roman citizens shortly after the opening of the Christian era. 

The decadence in literary quality and in the intrinsic merit 
of this grammatical and rhetorical training did not come until 
the later part of the third or the early period of the fourth cen- 
tury. Long before that time the significance of this education 
had departed. As in other aspects of Roman society, the in- 



* For selections of those portions of Roman literature that relate to edu- 
cation in the school, see Monroe's Source Book of the History of Education for 
the Greek and Roman Period, Pt. II, Ch. VII. 



The Romans. The Practical Education 97 

stitutional form persisted long after selfishness had destroyed 
the purpose, after corruption had destroyed the spirit, and arti- 
ficiahty had taken from it all real influence upon the hves of 
the people and all real social significance. The education 
of the Christian Church was gradually replacing the education 
elaborated by the Roman from the material borrowed by them 
from the Greeks. The great merit of the Roman adaptation 
had been its close relation to the practical needs of pohtical 
and institutional life. This was now lost. When the practical 
bearing of a practical education is lost, there is nothing left to 
commend it. 

The limitation which most characterizes the decline is the 
fact that this education was for the upper class only. This 
education is to be judged, not as the practical training of a 
whole people, but as an adornment to a hollow, superficial, and 
usually corrupt society; not as the expression of the highest aims 
in life, but as a dilettante interest, and more often still, as an 
affectation; not as a stage of development possible for an entire 
people, or for individuals of any rank, but as an attainment 
or even a mere badge of distinction of a favored class. As 
the old pohtical povv^er and opportunity for political activity 
disappeared, as the municipal government became mere ma- " 
chinery for collecting taxes, as the army became filled with bar- 
barians, the upper class, now more numerous than ever, turned 
to the one remaining feature of early imperial Rome, — its 
culture. 

These centuries were not without many minor writers of merit. Formal ex 
and able systematizers, especially grammarians. This is espe- ceiience of 
cially true of the fourth century. With the return to paganism education 
under the apostate Emperor Julian (361-363) — a revival in 
itself largely inspired in the schools — there occurred a revival of 
the classical culture and of schools, which is spoken of by histo- 
rians as a distinct renaissance of learning. Donatus (about 
400) in the West and Priscian (about 500) in the East perfected 
the grammatical analysis of the language in text-books that were 

H 



98 Brief Course in the History of Education 

to remain the basis of linguistic study and hence of education 
until the sixteenth century. Grammarians and rhetoricians 
had never been held in such high esteem. Rhetoricians had 
followed the conquering Roman armies into Gaul, as do trader^ 
a modern conquest, and had gained a hold upon the Romanized 
Celtic civihzation that rendered possible the survival of this 
culture in that province after it had disappeared elsewhere. 

In addition to the rhetoricians and grammarians located in the 
cities, wandering sophists or teachers traveled from place to 
place. Speaking of these. Professor Dill says: — 

" If he was a man of reputation in his art, people rushed to hear him 
declaim, as they will do in our times to hear a great singer, or actor, or 
popular preacher. Provincial governors, on a progress through a district, 
would relieve the tedium of official duties by commanding a display of word- 
fence or declamation by such a master as Proaeresius, reward him with the 
most ecstatic applause and conduct him home in state after the perform- 
ance. . . . This power of using words for mere pleasurable effect, on the 
most trivial or the most extravagantly absurd themes, was for many ages, 
in both West and East, esteemed the highest proof of talent and cultiva- 
tion." 

Such being the ideal, it is not to be wondered that the work 
of the schools was of the most artificial and ineffectual character. 
The study of philosophy had disappeared altogether from the 
schools and found but few devotees among the cultured, and 
here, too, merely for a show of learning. Except in Rome, even 
law attracted but slight attention in these Western schools. 

Such ideals of culture stopped all progress. If the Hellen- 
ized Roman education ever possessed any of the hberalizing 
tendencies that it did with the Greeks, it had long since lost 
all of them. The practical merits of Roman education had 
disappeared quite as completely. Down to the close of the 
sixth century these schools existed throughout the European 
provinces and gave to the early Church in that region a formal 
training in the culture of pagan society. 

In portions of Italy some of these schools — modified by the 



The Romans. The Practical Education 99 
ecclesiastical influence, it is true — survived the dark ae;es. Replaced 

fi II K 

In Gaul, where the Goths accepted Roman culture, they per- m"ona^tic' 
sisted well into the seventh century. But with the coming of the schools 
Franks and the spread of monasticism the few surviving ones 
were replaced by the schools of the monastic orders. 



SUMMARY 

I The Roman contribution to civilization was the practical one of institu- 
tions as means for realizing ideals or social purposes.. Consequently they 
contributed to education much less of permanent value than did the Greeks. 
On the other hand, they furnish the best illustration of the practical educa- 
tion. Their educational ideals during the earlier periods were wholly 
moral ones, that is, relating to practical conduct. The home was the chief 
educational institution, imitation the chief method, biography and the 
practical process of life the chief educative means. Shortly before the 
opening of the imperial period and of the Christian era, Greek ideals came 
to dominate and Greek educational processes to be adopted. This es- 
pecially affected higher education. Consequently, for the remainder of 
Roman history, a modified system, including both Greek and Roman ele- 
ments, prevailed. The Greek literary and culture elements appealed chiefly 
to the higher classes and left untouched the great masses of the people. For 
these higher classes, an elaborate system of grammar and rhetorical schools, 
and even numerous libraries and some universities, were developed. The 
great achievements of Latin literature were products of the very earliest por- 
tion of this period, when the Roman genius had lost none of its virility, and 
the Greek education had been adopted only to a slight extent. In a com- 
paratively short time, this imitation of the Greeks became wholly artificial, 
education became very formal and unreal. Roman life tended at the same 
time to become very corrupt, government became despotic, the early indi- 
vidualism and virile character of the Romans was lost, and the dominant 
education ceased to have any vital connection with the Hfe of the times. 
Consequently a new education, that furnished by the early Christian Church, 
gradually replaced the old. Roman education lost its social importance, 
though its structure continued to persist even after the barbarians had seized 
control of the empire in the West. 

LOFC. 



Chronological Survey of Medieval Education. 476-1300 a.d. 



Political 
Events 



Writers, 
Schoolmen, etc. 



"Fall "of 

Rome . . . 476 
Odoacer . . . 476 
Theodoric . . 493 
Tothila . 541-542 
Justinian . . 527 
The empire 

reunited . . 565 
Arab conquest 

of Spain . . 714 
Karl Martel defeats 

Saracens . . 732 
Carolingian line 752 
End of Lombard 

kingdom . . 774 
Charlemagne 

772-814 



800 A.D. 



Boethius c. 

Cassiodorus 

c. 

Gregory of 

Tours c. 
Isidore of 

Seville c. 
Venerable 

Bede . . 
Alcuin . . 
Paulus 

Diaconus 



48t>-524 

480-575 

538-594 

570-636 

673-735 
735-804 

725-797 



Churchmen and 

Ecclesiastical 

Events 



St. Benedict 480-543 
Franks 

converted . . 496 
Gregory I c. 540-604 
Mohammed b. 572 
Columban . 540-615 
Hegira of 

Mohammed . 622 
Conference at 

Whitby . . 664 
Boniface converts 

the Germans 

. 721-754 
Last council recog- 
nized by Eastern 

and Western 

churches . . 7S7 
Leo III . 795-817 



Educational 
Writings 



Benedict's 
Rules 

Boethius, 
Consolations, 
Translations 
of A ristotle. 

Cassiodorus, 
Institutes 
0/ Sacred 
Literature 

Gregory of 
Tours, 

Chron. 

Isidore, 

Etymologies 

Bede, Chron 

Alcuin, 
On Seven 
Liberal 
A rts, etc. 



Educational 
Events 



Monte Cassino 

lounded . . 529 
Cassiodorus founds 

monastery . 540 
Christian era first 

used for 

dating . . . 526 
St. Gall founded 614 
Reichenau f. . 724 
Fulda founded . 744 
Alcuin called to 

Frankland . 781 
Karl's Capitularies 

on ed. 787 et seq. 
Alcuin, Abbot of 

Tours . 794-804 



Carolingian Empire 
founded . . 800 

Charles the 

Bald . 840-877 

Treaty Verdun 843 

Alfred . 871-901 

Henry of 

Saxony 919-936 

Otho . . 936-973 

Holy Roman Em- 
pire founded 962 

Otho III . 996-1002 

Caliphate of 

Cordova 929-1031 

Capetian line . 987 

Norman conq. io56 

Canossa . . 1077 

iioo AD. 



Consular govern- 
ment in Italian 
cities . fl. iioo 

Arnold of 

Brescia 1100-1155 

Frederick Bar- 
barossa 1152-1190 

Henry II of 

England 1154-84 

Philip II of 

France i 180-1223 

Treaty of 

Constance 1183 

Fall of 

Constantinople 
to Crusaders 1204 

Frederick II 

1208-1250 

Magna Charta 1215 

End of Hohen- 
staufen line 1254 

Louis IX of 

France 1226-70 

Latin Empire in 
East falls . 1261 

Hapsburg line 
begins . . 1273 

Model 
Parliament 1295 

1300 A.D. 



Einhard . 770-840 
Rabanus 

Maurus . 776-856 
John Scotus 810-875 
Walafred 

Strabo . 809-S49 
Avicenna 980-1037 
Anselm . 1033-1109 
Roscellinus 

c. 1050-1121 



William of 
Champeaux 

d. 1121 



Conversion of 

Saxons . . . 804 
Separation of 

Eastern and 

Western 

churches . . 822 
Clugny founded 910 
First Crusade 1095 
Sylvester II 

(Gerbert) 

999-1003 
Cistercians 

founded . 109B 
Knights of St. John 

founded . 1099 



Rabaiuis 

Maurus, 

Education 

of the 

Clergy 
Walafred 

Strabo, 

Biography 
Anselm and 

Roscellinus 

begin 

scholastic 

controversy 



Division of 

Monastic Schools 

into interns and 

externs . . 817 
Hirschau 

founded . . 830 
Oath of Strassburg, 

earliest form of 

German and 

French 

language . . 841 
Salerno . fl. c. 1050 
Anselm, Abbot of 

Canterbury 

1093-1109 



Bernard . </. 115 
Abelard 1079-114 
Hugo St. Victor 

c. 1097-IT42 
Richard 

St. Victor d. 1 1 73 
John of Salis- 
bury . IIIO-II 
Peter of Blois 

1135-1204 
Albertus Magnus 
1193-12 
Walter Map 

c. 1140-1210 
Averroes 1126-119S 
Alex. Hales d. 1245 
Grosseteste 

"75-1253 
Bonaventura 

1221-1274 
Th. Aquinas 1221-74 
Walter von der 

Vogelweide fl, 1230 

Alexander de Ville- 

dieu . . d. 1240 

Vincent de Beauvai-i 

d. \'2.(iii 

Roger Bacon 

1214-1294 
Raymond Lull 

1235-1315 



Knights Templars 

founded . 1119 
Second Crusade 

1147 
Murder of 

i Becl;ct . 1170 
Innocent III 

1198-1216 
Peter the Venerable 
d. I I 56 
Albigensian 

Crusade . 1208 
Franciscans 

founded . 1210 
Dominicans 

founded . 1215 
Crusade of 

St. Louis . 1270 
Christians 

expelled from 

Palestine . 1291 
Boniface 1294-1303 



Abelard, 

Sic et Non, 

etc. 
Hugo of 

St. Victor, 

On 

Instruction 
John of 
Salisbury, 

Metalogicus 
Walter Map, 

Latin 

Si?ideiits' 

Songs 
Alexander 

de Ville- 

dieu, 
Grammar 



Irnerius at 

Bologna . 1113 
Trans, from Arabic 

under Raymond of 

Toledo 1130-1150 
U. of Paris . c. ii5o 
Aristotle's Physics 

proscribed at 

Paris . . 1210 

Metaphysics 

proscribed . 1215 
Frederick II sends 

trans, of Aris. to 

Bol and Paris 1220 
Niebelungenlied 

c. 1220 
Epic poetry in 

Ger. and France 
c, 1200-1250 
Dominicans at 

Paris . . 1217 
Franciscans at 

Paris . . 1230 
U. of Padua . 1222 
U. of Naples . 1224 
U. of Salamanca 1243 
U. Col. Oxford 1249 
Peterhouse, 

Cambridge 1284 
Aristotle again stud. 

at Paris . 1255 



CHAPTER V 

MIDDLE AGES : EDUCATION AS DISCIPLINE 

SIGNIFICANCE OF MEDIAEVAL EDUCATION. — By sue- Political 
cessive decrees (312,313, 321, etc.) of the Emperor Constantine, chTisd^^°^ 
Christianity became the official religion of the Roman empire, tion of Ro- 
So far as formal acceptance was concerned, it soon came to teuton 
prevail throughout the empire. After the surrender of the 
imperial office in the West (476) the political control was in- 
direct until the reestablishment of the imperial office by Charles 
the Great (800). Meanwhile, to all practical purposes, the in- 
stitutional control of the people had passed to the Church. 
But not even yet could it be said that the masses of the people 
were Christianized in spirit and in conduct. The pohtical 
conversion of the Roman populace had left their ideas and 
their conduct but slightly modified. True the gladiatorial shows, 
the exposure of infants, and similar pagan customs were sup- 
pressed in time; but at heart the masses of the people experi- 
enced little change. The conversion of the barbarians during 
the sixth and seventh centuries was also largely of a political 
character. 

Both with the decadent Roman and with the barbarous Goth Great need 
and Vandal, the great need was a schooling in conduct and pouticd con- 
spirit through the substitution of new ideals of hfe and new mo- verts was a 
tives of conduct. Neither the education nor the religion of the jjon 
Greeks and of the Romans gave this. But under the dominance 
of Christianity education received a wholly new character. 
Instruction in doctrine and training in Church ceremonials 
were substituted for the intellectual element; a rigid discipline 
in conduct, for the physical and rhetorical training. 



I02 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Dominant 
moral char- 
acter of early 
Christian 
education 



Disciplinary 
character of 
the intel- 
lectual edu- 
cation when 
introduced 



Education became a rigid regime in preparation for some 
future state. From the point of view of this disciphne, all that 
was an outgrowth of natural interests was to be suppressed; 
everything connected with this world and its activities was 
evil; all consideration for the development of personality and 
the cultivation of aesthetic taste or intellectual activity was a 
gross sin. From the sixth to the thirteenth century, the in- 
tellectual element was practically eliminated from education.' 
Even when reintroduced, it was still under the dominance of the 
disciplinary conception. The subordinate types of education 
which developed during the long period of the Middle Ages, 
before the classical Renaissance of the fifteenth century, are but 
various expressions of this disciphnary conception. Through a 
rigid training, physical, intellectual, moral, the individual was 
to be prepared for some state, remote from the present both in 
time and in character. Under the dominance of the Church and 
of monasticism this future state became the future life. For the 
entire period there prevailed a new conception of education, 
antagonistic both to the liberal, individualizing education of the 
Greeks and to the practical, socializing education of the Romans. 



EARLY CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 



The educa- 
tional as well 
as the social 
ideal found 
in the moral 
rather than 
in the intel- 
lectual na- 
ture of man 



THE NEW EDUCATIONAL IDEAL. — In the various solu- 
tions of the moral problem of life offered by Plato, Aristotle and 
other Greek philosophers, the key was found in the intellectual 
nature of man. Since high intellectual attainments were pos- 
sible only to a few, such solutions were aristocratic in nature and 
partial in application. Opposed to this, Christianity, offered 
the solution found in man's moral nature. Since the moral 
nature is common to all alike, or at least is possible of develop- 
ment in all, such a solution was universal in its application. It 
was in no ideal of immediate happiness or of any activity of the 
rational nature that Christianity discovered its solution of the 
world problem. It was in the idea of Christian charity or love, 



Middle Ages: Education as Discipline 103 

— that expression of personality which is most individual and Individual 
most complete and which at the same time, from its very nature, elements^ 
finds its expression in objects or personalities external to itself, harmonized 
Thus in the moral nature, which pagan religion had so slightly ^ chris-^ 
affected, and which Greek philosophy had but dimly appre- tian char- 
hended, a new basis of life was found and a new solution of ' ^ ^"^ 
the fundamental educational as well as ethical problem was 
secured. 

This position led to an indifference on the part of the early and indifference 
mediaeval Christians to the intellectual and cesthetic features of and esthetic 
the Gracco-Roman education and culture. Christianity also elements 
offered its greatest boon to classes wholly neglected in the 
economy of pagan society and Grecian culture. When it was 
further realized that the literature, culture and schools of the old 
civilization furnished the strongest intrenchments for paganism, 
there grew up a general hostility between Hellenism and 
Christianity that at first had not been evident. Thus moral 
and religious elements replaced the intellectual, aesthetic and 
physical elements in the dominant educational ideals and 
practices. 

A complete readjustment of social and educational factors Readjust- 
occurred. Rehgion with the Greeks and Romans was chiefly '"^"^ ° 

^ -' social and 

a political concern. It had little to do with personal morahty educational 
and right conduct. Ethics had been associated with philosophy. ^'^'^^^^ 
Under Christianity, religion was dissociated from poHtics. 
Ethics and morality, through their new connection with religion, 
were given an unprecedented hold on the masses of mankind. 
With this new alignment of religion, ethics and politics, there 
came other readjustments of vital interest to education. Re- 
ligion lost its previous relationship to esthetic culture and to 
literature, philosophy its intimate connection through ethics 
with the practical life. The new moral and religious character 
of education, excluding the aesthetic and intellectual phases so 
essential to the education of the classical world, persisted for 
many centuries. 



I04 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Friendly 
attitude of 
early Greek 
Christians 
to Greek 
learning 



Grounds of 
opposition 
of Church 
to Greek 
learning 



ATTITUDE OF THE EARLY CHRISTIANS TOWARD 
PAGAN LEARNING. —The relation of Christianity to the pa- 
gan learning and culture divided the leaders of the early Church 
into two quite well-defined groups. One group held that this an- 
cient learning contained much that was valuable for Christians 
and for the Church ; that much of it confirmed the teachings of 
the Bible; that philosophy as well as Christianity was a search 
for truth; that all philosophies contained some valuable truth, 
though not the highest and not complete; and that Christianity 
should therefore include all this ancient learning and build upon 
it. The other group recalled the scorn of the Greek philoso- 
phers, the insults and the atrocities heaped upon Christians by 
the representatives of this heathen culture, and the immorahties 
contained in their literature and sanctioned by their religions. 
Therefore they held that there could be no compromise between 
the truth and the world ; that philosophies when connected with 
Christianity produced only heresies; that literature and culture 
in general represented merely the pleasures and the seductions of 
the world. They believed that those who were instructed in the 
legends of Homer, in the myths of Zeus and the gods, got from 
them nothing but lessons of impurity, and, hence, that such 
literature and in fact all ancient learning should be rejected as 
hostile to the purposes and interests of Christianity. 

In general the view friendly to this learning prevailed in 
the earlier history of the Church and especially in the East 
among the Greeks. The hostile view became more general in 
the West and prevailed among the Christians of those parts 
even before the overthrow of the old social structure by the 
barbarians. It was but natural that the Christians of the West 
should identify heathenism with this ancient culture, for the 
chief hold which the old religion retained upon the people was 
through this literature; the most forcible opposition to the 
progress of the Church came from the class most conversant 
with this literature; and the chief stronghold of the pagan 
regime was in the schools. With such a hostility it is not to be 



Middle Ages: Education as Discipline 105 

wondered that learning almost ceased to exist, and that there 
followed for some centuries the period commonly termed " the 
dark ages." 

Since this attitude of the Church explains to a large extent Reasons for 
the condition of education for a thousand years, some further tion^nthe' 
explanation of it should be given. One of the most important Western 
causes of this attitude has been mentioned. It is the fact that found jn 
the great mission of the Church, as well as the great need of the ^^^ early 
times, was a moral one. Added to this was the behef prevalent t^e Church 
throughout the early Church that the second advent of Christ 
was near, and that consec|uently learning, culture and in fact all 
mundane affairs, were of trivial importance. The persecution 
and the exile which many Christians in the first three centuries 
were compelled to undergo deprived them of all opportunity for 
the acquisition of pagan learning, even if they had desired it, 
and destroyed all inchnation to attain to the most distinctive 
possession of their persecutors. In the following section, on 
monasticism, one other great reason for this indifference is 
discussed more fully. This is asceticism or the opposition to 
all worldly interests and to all that gives satisfaction or pleasure 
of a natural or human character. Two other reasons, one 
operative in the earher centuries, the other in later times, explain 
in part this indifference of the Church to learning. In the early 
period its success was largest with the lower class of people, to 
whom its message brought a wonderful deliverance. They 
were disinclined, through nature, through sympathy and through 
tradition, to take any great interest in the culture that had been 
made possible only by their debasement. In the later period, and in the 
the strength of the Church was found in the new Teutonic character of 

° Teutonic 

peoples, whom the Church raised out of barbarism, but to whom converts 
it was impossible throughout many generations to impart the 
graces of culture. Again, the unification of the Church in 
the West and its reputation and desire for orthodoxy acted as 
a check not only upon learning, but also upon the spirit of 
inquiry, which was fostered or permitted in the East long after 
it had disappeared in the West. 



\ 



io6 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Attempt of 
Greek 
Fathers to 
identify 
Greek phi- 
losophy and 
Christian 
teaching 



Later Greek 

Fathers 
recognize 
difficulty, 
even impos- 
sibility of 
this recon- 
ciliation at 
that time 



The Attitude of the Greek Christian Fathers toward Learn- 
ing is typical of the attitude of the Church in general. Many of 
them had been Greek philosophers before their conversion and 
all of them had been pupils in Greek schools. All encouraged 
the study of Hterature and philosophy. Clement of Alexandria 
(c. 160-c. 215), one of the formulators of the theology of the 
Christian Church, held that the Gospels were perfected Platon- 
ism and that " Plato was Moses Atticized." He taught that 
pagan philosophy was " a pedagogue to bring the world to 
Christ." Another of his doctrines was that God had made three 
covenants with man, — the law, the gospel and philosophy. 
Most of his teachings and writings were directed toward the 
reconciliation of faith and reason, of Christian revelation and 
pagan philosophy. In this general attitude, Justin Martyr 
(c. loo-c. 175) and Origen (c. 185-c. 254) agree. 

By the time of ,St:_Bas2Lj(^i-379) and Gregory of Nazi- 
anzus (c. 325-c. 390), the opposition of the Christians to pagan 
learning and especially to Greek philosophy had become more 
pronounced. But both these Fathers unite in the protest of the 
earlier ones against this prejudice and in the effort to show that 
Greek literature is full of principle and event, of precept and 
example, helpful in instruction and leading to the higher life. 
However, the opinions of these later Fathers is not so unquahfied 
as that of the earlier. It is only within limits that learning is 
recommended. ..Chrysostom (c. 347-411), though not in con- 
demnation, it is true, yet with greater disparagement, writes, " I 
have long ago laid aside such follies, for one cannot spend all 
one's hfe in child's play." And Basil, writing on the education of 
children, thus sums up his judgment, expressed fully in a much 
longer discussion: "Are we then to give up Hterature? you 
will exclaim. I do not say that ; but I do say that we must not 
kill souls. . . . In fact, the choice lies between two alternatives: 
a liberal education which you may get by sending your children 
to the public schools, or the salvation of their souls which you 
secure by sending them to the monks. Which is to gain the day, 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 107 

science or the soul ? If you can unite both advantages, do so by 
all means; but if not, choose the more precious." 

Attitude of the Latin Church Fathers. — In the West, by the Lai 
fourth century, especially among the Roman Christians, Hel- ^^^ 
lenism had become almost synonymous with hostility to the hos 
Church. This is true, notwithstanding the fact that most of the 
Latin Fathers — TejluJJian, Arno bius, Lactantius, Gregory, 
Augustine — had been teachers of oratory or of rhetoric. Ter- 
tullian, in his chapter On Schoolmasters and their Difficulties^ 
denied that a Christian could be a teacher of ancient learning. 
JEq St, Jero me (331-432), the translator of the version of the jer 
Bible accepted by the Church for centuries, this conflict between T^^ 
the classical learning and the Christian faith became most tati 
clearly defined. Perhaps no single event of this general conflict ^^^ 
had so great an influence upon succeeding generations, as that of 
Jerome's famous vision (374). Dreaming that he was dead and 
dragged before the judgment seat, he was asked the question, 
" Who art thou? " Upon answering, " A Christian," he heard 
with the stricken conscience that repeated its awful warning to 
many successive generations, the terrible judgment, " It is 
false : thou art no Christian ; thou art a Ciceronian ; where the 
treasure is, there the heart is also." 

In the case of St. Augustine (354-430) as in that of Jerome, Ch; 
a retrograde movement from an earlier devotion to classical ^"g 
learning is to be found. Until middle life a teacher of rhetoric tine 
and oxatpryj Augustine had partially completed an encyclo- 
pedic treatise on the hberal arts. Intellectually the most active 
and the most brilliant of the Fathers of the Western Church, and 
exerting the widest, the deepest, and the most far-reaching 
influence of them all, he called his extended learning into service 
in combating the many heresies in the Church. Thus although in 
his earlier years he sanctioned " the spoiling of the Egyptians," 
as he termed the study of the classics, at a later period of 
his life his sympathy for classical learning was much restricted. 
He discountenanced its use and is supposed to have been 



looling 



1 08 Brief Course in the History of Education 

personally responsible for the prohibition of philosophical and 
hterary study made by the Council of Carthage. 

EARLY CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS. Christian Life a School- 
ing. — In its reaction against this corrupt society of the last 
pagan centuries, life in the early Christian Church was in itself a 
schooHng of very great importance. To be sure, this was not a 
schoohng of an intellectual character, but we have previously 
seen how formal and how futile was the intellectual education of 
Rome for some centuries of the new era. Education was now 
to possess very little of the intellectual element for a thousand 
years. The_earIy_Church was concerned in the moral reforma- 
tion of the world, in the destruction of the state of society already 
described; for this reason it turned its attention wholly to the 
moral education of its own membership and thus to the regen- 
eration of society, 
ing Catechumenal Schools. — The earliest aspect of the life of the 
'\^^ Christian Church that approximated a formal schoohng was the 
training given to converts both young and old. As in heathen 
countries at the present time, so it was necessary then to post- 
pone the reception of such converts into full membership until a 
period of probation for instruction in doctrine and trial of 
Christian hfe had been passed. Such probationers were called 
catechumens, and such schools, catechumenal schools. 

Catechetical Schools. — As the Christian leaders at Alexandria 
and other Eastern centers came in conflict with the Greek schools 
of thought, it became more and more necessary to equip the 
leaders and the ministers of the Church with a training similar 
to that of the Greeks. For some centuries Alexandria was the 
center of this intellectual and theological activity. In 179 a.d. 
Pantfenus, a converted Stoic philosopher, became head of the 
schooFfor catechumens at Alexandria. Through him and his 
successors both philosophy and rhetoric — in fact all the Grecian 
learning — were brought to the service of the Church. Pantaenus 
was succeeded in turn by the two most noted of the Greek Church 
Fathers, Clement and Origen, from whom came the earliest 



ool 



DOI 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 109 



formulation of Christian theology. Similar, though less im- 
portant, schools grew from the catechumenal schools elsewhere. 
These were the catechetical schools. However, since the schools 
for catechumens used the same catechetical method, the term 
catechetical schools is often used in a more generic sense to in- 
clude both. 

Episcopal and Cathedral Schools. — In time such schools 
came to be organized by each bishop for the training of the 




A Cathedral School taught by ihk Archdeacon 

A Woodcut of the 15th century 

clergy for churches under his supervision. As the life of the 
priests gathered in these central places was brought into sub- 
jection to regular rules or canons, as was first done in 354, it 
became possible to regulate the work of such schools more 
definitely. During the fifth and sixth centuries the Church 
councils legislated that children destined for the priesthood 
should be early placed in these training schools under the charge 
of the bishop. In the West such schools were more commonly 
called cathedral schools, from the building in which they were 



Incorpora- 
tion of these 
schools into 
the Church 
organization 
under the 
control of 
the bishops 



no Brief Course in the History of Education 

located. After the overthrow of Roman culture by the bar- 
barians, when education had completely fallen into the hands 
of the Church, these schools with those of the monasteries 
remained the only ones of the West. 

§ 2. MONASTICISM. EDUCATION AS A MORAL DISCIPLINE 



The monas- 
tic or regular 
clergy lived 
under rules 



Monastic 
schools 
were the 
most impor- 
tant and 
numerous 
educational 
institutions 
during the 
Middle Ages 



Monastic 
or ascetic 
element 
found in 
various 
religions 



SCOPE AND IMPORTANCE OF MONASTIC EDUCATION. — 

The term monasticism in its most general application indi- 
cates the organization of those who have taken special vows of 
a religious hfe and live according to rules controlling conduct in 
most minute details. For this reason they are generally termed 
the regular clergy, as opposed to the secular clergy, who do not 
live under special rule and who pass their Hves in close associa- 
tion with the hves of the people. 

We have noted the estabhshment of cathedral or episcopal 
schools under the control of the bishop, for the training of the 
secular clergy. But in western Europe, from the seventh cen- 
tury to the Reformation, the most important type of school was 
that of the monastery. Under these must also be included the 
schools of the mendicant friars, which were estabhshed during 
the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (p. 153). After the 
Reformation, other monastic orders, termed leaching congre- 
gations (p. 201), were organized especially for educational work. 

Since the term monastic education indicates a great variety 
of activities, includes the work of a great number of orders, and 
covers a scope of territory from Egypt to Ireland, and a period 
of time from the sixth century well into modern times, only 
its most general characteristics can be here discussed. 

ORIGIN OF MONASTICISM. —The primary idea of mo- 
nasticism is asceticism. In its original significance, asceticism 
was the training or discipline of the athlete in ^preparation for 
the physical contests. In its figurative use it indicates the 
subjection or the disciplining of all bodily desires and human 
affections in order that the mind and soul may be devoted to the 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 1 1 1 

interests of the higher life. Found in some degree in all beliefs, 
it was given a special prominence in many religions, — in the 
Jewish, the Persian, the Egyptian and in several of the Grecian 
philosophical sects, — ■ with which Christianity early came in con- 
flict. In all of these the highest ethical thought was that of 
rising to spiritual excellence and insight through the elimina- 
tion of all natural and material wants. Through fasting, 
penance, flagellation, or through prolonged and enervating 
physical exercise, the quiescence of the physical nature and 
the complete eradication of temporal interests were obtained. 
Thus the Christian ascetics united in themselves the Stoic Theeie- 
virtues of contempt for pain and for death and of indifference to chrisd"li 
the vicissitudes of fortune, the Pythagorean customs of silence asceticism 
and of submission of the physical nature, and the Cynic neglect 
of the obligations and the forms of society. The ascetic idea 
found support in Christ's commands to take no thought for the 
morrow, to sell all one's goods and give to the poor, to forsake 
father and mother, wife and children, and, above all, in the 
frequent exhortations to world-renunciation and to the devo- 
tion of one's self to the service of spreading the gospel. 

The particular occasion of the rise of monasticism in introduc- 
the East was the intimate relation of Christianity to other ^'""^ "^ '"°"" 

•' asticism into 

Oriental religions. The particular occasion for its spread in the the West 
West was the development of the secular character of the Church 
and the worldly life of its communicants after the general 
inclusion of the Roman population within the formal limits of 
Christianity. The first prominence was given to monasticism 
by St. Anthony, who in 305 fled to the desert on the shore of the 
Red Sea and there subjected himself to a series of physical 
penances which became the model for a long line of exacting, 
ingeniously devised and herocially endured practices for the 
mortification of the flesh. Monasticism was transferred to 
Rome by Athanasius (296-373) and Jerome (340-420). In 
the West the monks lived in communities rather than in isola- 
tion as hermits, as was the usual custom in the East. 



112 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Rules of 
St. Bene- 
dict, 529 



Later rules 



Content of 

Benedictine 

rules 



Provision for 
manual 
labor and its 
conse- 
quences 



MONASTIC RULES. —At first each of these groups formulated 
its own rules. Among these was Benedict, a patrician who had 
fled from the corruption of Rome and had attracted many by 
his life of spiritual devotion. In 529 he drew up a set of rules 
for his own community. Through the influence of the popes 
these rules were soon adopted quite generally by the monastic 
communities in western Europe. These rules were not nec- 
essarily exclusive, but were at first adopted as supplemental to 
the local rules. During the tenth century the Benedictine rules 
were made more rigid by the " Cluny reform." During the 
eleventh and twelfth centuries still more rigid rules were adopted 
by a variety of new orders. The most notable of all was the 
Cistercian Order, founded in 1098. The rules of this order 
enjoined absolute silence, provided for the solitary life so far 
as possible, simplified worship, and apphed in their churches 
and ceremonials provisions more rigidly ascetic than any pre- 
viously formulated. 

The original rules of St. Benedict were seventy-three in 
number. Nine related to the general duties of abbots and 
monks; thirteen to worship; twenty-nine to discipline, errors, 
penalties; ten to the administration of the monastery; and 
twelve to various topics, such as reception of guests, conduct of 
monks while travehng, etc. The distinctive feature of the 
Benedictine Rule was insistence upon manual labor of some 
kind, added to the implicit obedience which the monk must 
render to the abbot in the performance of this work. In very 
great divergence from the ideas and habits of the monk of the 
East, indolence was termed the enemy of the soul. To provide 
against this, at least seven hours a day must be given to some 
kind of toil. Thus many of the evils that had come into 
monastic life as a result of idleness were eradicated. The 
more subtle evils of a subjective kind, arising from enforced 
sohtary confinement and a brooding over imaginary evils by 
minds little adapted to profit from such a course, were also 
eliminated. The Benedictine Rule is the first recognition of 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 113 

the value of manual labor in education. Though the conception 

of education and the value placed upon the manual activities 

in this moral training were both very different from those in our 

own time, they were a great step beyond the position of the 

Greeks and Romans. From this provision came most of the Social value 

social benefits of monasticism in the West, — for monasticism °^ *^^^^ 

' rules 

was an education in the broadest social sense of the term. In 
the cultivation of the soil the monks furnished models for the 
peasantry. They introduced new processes for the craftsmen in 
wood, metal, leather and cloth. They gave new ideas to the 
architect. In a way they stimulated and fostered trade among 
the mercantile class. They offered asylums to the poor, the 
sick, the injured and the distressed. They drained swamps 
and improved public health and public life in almost every way. 

The Benedictine rules also provided that two hours of each 
day should be devoted to reading; indicated the portions of the 
Bible and of the Fathers to be read; provided for the reading of 
the Bible during the meal hours ; and through minute rules saw 
to it that these times for reading were not to be wasted in idleness, 
in sleep or in talking. 

IDEALS OF MONASTIC LIFE AND EDUCATION. Asceti- Educational 
cism an Ideal of Discipline. — The rules of monastic life might ^^e ascetic 
present the greatest variation; its ideals were everywhere the rules 
same. In all places and in all ages its dominant ideal was that 
of asceticism. The virtue of the monk was often measured by 
his ingenuity in devising new and fantastic methods of mortifying 
the flesh through fasting, through eating insufficient and in- 
appropriate foods, through taking insufficient sleep, through 
wearing insufficient clothing, through assuming unnatural 
postures of extreme discomfort and maintaining them some- 
times for months, through uncleanliness of body, through bind- 
ing the limbs with Hgatures, through loading the body with 
chains and weights, through every means which would reduce or 
even destroy the natural wants or which would produce suffering 
from insufiicient care for them. This irrational regime might 



114 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Negative 
social influ- 
ences of these 
ideals 



Positive 
social influ- 
ences 



either destroy or weaken the mind. In any case it would make 
it subject to abnormal visions, which would be increased by the 
terror of such temptations. However, this seems seldom to have 
been noticed by the monks. All these forms of discipline were 
for the sake of the spiritual growth, the moral betterment of 
the penitent. All these, as the very significance of the word 
asceticism indicates, reveal the dominant conception of educa- 
tion which prevailed throughout this long period, — the idea of 
discipline of the physical nature for the sake of growth in moral 
and spiritual power. The ideals of monasticism were usually 
summed up in the three ideals of chastity, poverty and obe- 
dience, or more technically, conversidh,, stability and obedience. 

Social Significance of these Ideals. — Thus, in a manner, the 
monastic ideal had its negative as well as its positive signifi- 
cance. In its three great ideals it negated the three great in- 
stitutional aspects of social life, — the family, industrial so ciety 
and the state. It represented a type ot disciplinary education 
which left out of account these three great classes of needs of 
society and emphasized and developed those moral virtues that, 
in a restricted sense, found expression largely through the Church 
and rehgion. 

On the other hand, monasticism became in the larger sense 
an educational force of very great importance to society as a 
whole. Each one of these monastic ideals introduced new 
factors into social development. For example, the habit of 
obedience, with its accompanying virtue..of humility, presented 
as great a contrast as can be imagined to the strong individual- 
ism of the barbarian and the arrogance of the Roman. The 
ideals and habits of the monks entered into the reorganization of 
society in the institution of feudalism, revealed themselves in 
the crusade movement, and probably did more than any other 
single factor in the subjection of the rude Teuton to the restric- 
tions of civilization and culture. 

MONASTICISM AND LITERARY EDUCATION. — As we 
have seen, monasticism was not primarily a scheme of education 



Middle Ages : Educatioji as Discipline 1 1 5 

in the literary or school sense. Its conception of education Educational 
related to the formation of moral and religious character alone. nteTaTv^char- 
Many, consequently, have resented any criticism of the learning acterwere 
or of the educational efforts of the monks as altogether invalid, ordinate" ' 
on the grounds that an institution or a class of people is not to 
be held responsible for that which it does not explicitly under- 
take. It is true that until the organization of the teaching orders 
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the monastic orders 
did not make education a controlHng aim; on the other hand, 
it is also true that, from the seventh to the opening of the thir- 
teenth centuries, there was practically no other education but 
that offered by the monks. Moreover it was the Church and the 
monastic institutions which were responsible for the facts that 
no other conception of education existed and no other educa- 
tional institutions were tolerated. 

Study in the Monasteries. — St. Benedict provided for seven Provisions 
hours of labor, chiefly manual, though it might be literary; and 
for from two to five hours of reading each day. Some similar 
provisions had been made before by St. Basil in the East. 
From these provisions, imposed only as matters of discipline for 
the monks, came most of the indirect social benefits of monasti- 
cism. If the monks must read, they must be taught to read, 
they must have books, and they must in turn teach the novices 
to read and copy manuscripts. Hence, without any word in the 
rules concerning schools and with but the briefest reference to 
the training of the youth accepted for the monastic life, without 
any direct reference to the copying of manuscript or to the study 
of literature or to the preservation of books, all of these things 
followed. 

But there were other causes contributing to make the results Gave oppor- 
of this one provision so great and so far-reaching. In those ^I'^^^.^'^n 
restless ages of rude culture, of constant warfare, of perpetual so inclined 
lawlessness and the rule of might, monasticism offered the one 
opportunity for a life of repose, of contemplation, and of that 
leisure and relief from the ordinary duties of life which are 



1 1 6 Brief Course in the History of Education 



essential to the student. Hence the youth, who came at the age 
most impressionable and most given to the pursuit of ideals, 
was influenced toward the life of reflection and of study. Those 
also who had been bereft of family and of protection found in 
the monastic cell a retreat and in study a consolation. While 
those worn out with a life of toil, or shocked by the brutahty and 
callous indifference about them, found in the monastery a 
natural resting place, and in the pleasures of a life of reflec- 
tion and of study a legitimate reward for the burdens they had 
borne. 

Thus it happened that the monasteries were the sole schools 
for teaching; they offered the only professional training; they 
were the only universities of research; they alone served as 
publishing houses for the multiplication of books; they were the 
only libraries for the preservation of learning; they produced 
the only scholars; they were the sole educational institutions 
of this period. In each of these lines their activities were, to be 
sure, meager. But the opportunities were meager, and, how- 
ever great the needs, the conscious social demands of the times 
were more meager still. 

Every monastic rule — and they were much more numer- 
ous than this brief account would seem to indicate — either 
authorized indirectly or commanded directly the study of 
literature. The most famous monasteries in every country 
were those noted for their learning and for the training they 
afforded. Typical of these were those of EaJWa and Hirschau 
in Germany; those at Tours, Corbie, Bee, and Cluny in France; 
of St. Gall in Switzerland; of Glastonbury, Malmesbury, and 
Canterbury in England; of Monte Cassino in Italy. While 
these were exceptional institutions, there were many others that 
adopted as their motto, " Love the study of Scriptures and you 
will not love vice." 

The negative aspect of this relation of monasteries to study 
must also be noted. The Scripturce Sacra, which the monks were 
commanded to study, included all religious writings, but it did 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 1 1 7 

not go beyond these. Moreover, study was never an end in interest in 
itself, but simply a disciplinary means or an occupation for other- [^eratur^e 
wise idle moments. The instant study became an end or a alone toi- 
pleasure in itself, the very purpose of its introduction into the 
monasteries was negated. Further, it is just as erroneous to 
argue from a few exceptional cases, such as St. Gall, or Monte 
Cassino, that " to the monk of the tenth century no knowledge 
was unfamiliar," as to argue from other occasional instances 
that they knew nothing. It is c^uite evident that many monks 
were entirely ignorant; that many monasteries gave practically 
no attention to learning; and that those which gave attention to 
secular literature were comparatively few. To most monks the 
study of ancient literature, disapproved as it had been by the Dangers in 
Church for several centuries, represented distinctly the interests of'secuia^r 
and the temptations of the world. The desire for such study was literature 
indulged in only at a distinct risk or as a positive sin. Such 
study was a gratification of human desires, a satisfaction of the 
tastes, that was distinctly hostile to the idea of asceticism. 

In addition to this, such studies were the cause of heresies. Greek phi- 

r\ •. ...,,. , , losophy the 

Quite as promment m its early history as they are now were the origin of 
many divisions within the Christian Church. Even as late as the heresies 
period of St. Augustine, these numbered eighty-five according 
to his own enumeration. As a result of this, both error of 
judgment and the state of intellectual doubt came to be looked 
upon as sinful. One of the most commendable traits of ancient 
society within the polytheistic period of Greece or Rome or in 
the later skeptical cosmopolitan period, was toleration of be- 
liefs . To this fact Christianity itself in its early days owed very 
much. But to the Christian, tolerance of a behef that might 
mean eternal damnation to those enslaved by it was no virtue. 
Hence the very basis of all intellectual progress -^ the spirit of 
inquiry and the desire for truth or reality, irres^ecfive of itsi 
effect upon emotional states or religious beliefs held as a matter * 
of faith — was wanting to these ages. 

Schools in the Monasteries. — Except for the training of the 



ii8 Brief Course in the History of Education 



monks themselves or of the youth offered for monastic Hfe, the 
monasteries made little provision during several centuries for 
schooling of any kind, and that given was chiefly of a religious 
character. The arts of reading, of wdt^g, of s inging , and of 
calculatins the Church calendar^vere necessarily given, though 

probably the last was 
reserved for but a few. 
Later supplementary 
rules required a no- 
vitiate of two years, 
and stipulated that 
no member should be 
received into the order 
under eighteen years 
of age. As boys not 
yet in their teens were 
often accepted, a pro- 
longed schooling and 
discipline were pro- 
vided. 

Previous to the last 
of the eighth century such schools throughout western Europe 
were very rudimentary. The learning of the monasteries 
was very meager, and there was no opportunity for the 
education of boys not destined for monastic life. Then, 
through a movement hea.ded by the Emperor Ch arles the Great 
and his minister Alcuin ( pp. 125-8), monastic schools became 
more numerous and of better grade. Soon they came to pro- 
vide an education for vouth not intended for monastic life. 
buch pu.pjls^v ere called externs in distinction to the interns, o r 
t hose destmea to take tlU' mon[mTl(L' vow". Ft was not until the 
^ eleventh century that there was any education to speak of out- 
side of monastic schools, and not until the thirteenth century that 
there were any marked changes in the character of education 
given in any institutions. During all of this period it might be 




A Monastic School 

From a British Mss. antedating the Norman Conquest 



dW - 



Middle Acres 



Education as Discipline 119 



said that every monastery was a school, and that all education no demand 
was either in the monasteries or under the direction of monks. '^^'^ schools 
It must be remembered that the masses of the people of these the Church 
centuries were little more than barbarians and that they cer- 
tainly took much more naturally to warfare and destruction 
than they did to school- 



The Church and 
monastery must 




A Monk in the SCRtPTORiiTM 



mg. 
the 

not be held altogether 
responsible for the fact 
that schools were not 
more numerous, and 
that the character of 
their work was not of 
• a higher grade. That 
'learning should be 
"preserved at all w^as 
10 inconsiderable serv- 
ice. 

The Copying of Man- 
uscripts and the Preservation of Learning. — Through the 
work of the monks in the copying of manuscripts, whether 
as a form of monastic discipHne or through real interest in 
learning, most of the writings of the past that we now have 
were reproduced frecjuently enough to prevent their anni- 
hilation. This activity continued from the period of the 
formulation of the Benedictine rules. In later centuries 
\\\<t ^MXJLplonumj_ or general writing roorh, was an architectural 
feature of most monasteries. That this work of the copyist 
was not merely mechanical, but was designed to have an intel- 
lectual and moral effect as well, is indicated by the words in 
dedication of the scriptorium: "Vouchsafe, O Lord, to bless 
this room of thy servants, that all which they write therein may 
be comprehended by their intelligence and realized in their 
works." 



To the 
custom of 
copying 
manuscripts 
we owe the 
preservation 
of the physi- 
cal bases of 
learning 



Destruction 
of manu- 
scripts not 
so general 
as formerly 
supposed 



The mon- 
asteries 
collected and 
preserved 
books 



Most mon- 
asteries pre- 
served but 
few books 



Exchange 
of books 



With the 
invention of 
printing, 
importance 
of monks in 
multiplica- 
tion of books 
ceased 



1 20 Brief Course in the History of Education 

On the other hand, the monks have often been accused of 
destroying the htcrature of the past. Many of the extant manu- 
scripts devoted to the chronicles of the monastic foundation, 
to wearisome comment on some older sacred writings, or to the 
disquisitions of the Schoolmen, are written on parchment from 
which a previous writing, usually of some classical texts, has 
been removed by chemical or mechanical process. In this way, 
undoubtedly, many classical texts were destroyed. Such were 
chosen for destruction with the distinct feehng that they were 
unworthy of preservation. Possibly in this way some ancient 
texts have been lost for all time. It is now believed that this 
custom was not nearly so general as was formerly supposed. 
It was probably due to a scarcity of parchment, especially dur- 
ing the thirteenth century. 

The Monasteries as Depositories of Literature and Learning. — 
Qtm st^i ce which monasticism performed for learning cannot 
be gainsaid. Whatever of ancient l earnin g and literature we_ 
ha ve preserved to us t o-day, is largely owing to the rnonjc^.^ 
Though the Arabs added much during the laterMiddle Ages, even 
then such additions were given into the possession of the monks. 

While the majority of monasteries possessed but few books, 
probably none outside of a strictly religious character, there were 
many that possessed hundreds and some few whose volumes 
mounted to the thousands. The few monasteries especially noted 
for their learning had large libraries, and gave particular atten- 
tion to the collection of books through the exchange of duphcates 
made by the monks. Among these more noted foundations, 
there existed a very definitely regulated system of exchange. 
Several of the later orders made special provision in their rules 
for this interchange and for the requisite work of copying; 
some few made it a means of financial support. But with the 
founding of the universities and finally with the invention of 
printing, the monasteries ceased to give much attention to this 
activity; or at least, with changed conditions, the literary char- 
acter of their service no longer appeared conspicuous. 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 1 2 1 

The Monks as Literary Produc-ers. — Though the range of The monks 
their interests was not broad, yet until the general appearance ^^ro^ides 
of vernacular literature in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, lives of 
the monks produced practically all the literature of this period, s^hofa^dc 
This included the li ves of the saints, short mor?i1 tales nr ^iPrMi^n^, .i;c^.,co,-,.„c 
— such as are collected in the Gcsta Romanorum^ — Biblical 
or patristic comment, and monastic chronicles. During the 
latter half of the Middle Ages the literary product of the School- 
men and of the vernacular poets became far more important 
than that of the monks. Yet the Schoolmen were practically 
all monks, for the most part at least were nominal adherents of 
the two great friar orders. 

The one other class of secular writings besides the chroni- 
cles is that devoted to the discussion of the Seven Liberal Arts 
or of one of the component subjects. 

The Literary Heritage of Monasticism: The Seven Liberal Deveiop- 
Arts. — The Middle Ages possessed in outline all the knowl- the Seven 
edge of the few preceding and the few succeeding centuries; Liberal Arts 
but in its content this knowledge was immeasurably more meager 
than that of either the preceding or of the following era. 

It was far from being in its ancient form, — for most of the 
original writings had disappeared, — but consisted of the knowl- 
edge of the ancients organized in a much abridged form by a few 
learned men, chiefly of the fifth century. The expression, The 
Seven Liberal Arts, as inclusive of all learning, came into vogue 
at this time. Long before the fifth century, however, practically 
all these differentiations into subjects had occurred; but it was 
reserved for the ecclesiastical and symbolical tendencies of 
the Middle Ages to limit the sciences definitely to seven. Plato 
had shown the distinction between what now came to be called 
the t rivium, including grammar, rhetoric and dialectic, and the 
quadrivium, including arithmetic, geometry, music and as- 
tronomy. Varro, the most learned of the Romans, wrote, in 
the last pagan century, upon the liberal arts or studies, which 
included all of these, together with architecture, medicine 



122 Brief Course iii the History of Education 



The content 
of these sub- 
jects was 
broader then 
than now 



and philosophy. Quintihan, in his treatise on education, omitted 
dialectic and arithmetic from the liberal studies. St. Augustine 
(p. 107) wrote a treatise on two of these subjects and stated that 
he intended to write on five others. Writing in the same period, 
Capella completed his treatise on the seven in which all knowl- 
edge was presumed to be summarized. 

Content of the Seven Liberal Arts. — One can hardly estimate 
the extent and the value of the learning of the Middle Ages until 
the content of these liberal arts is noted. Geometry, for ex- 




An Allegorical Representation of the Trivium 

A Woodcut of the Thirteentl\ Century 

ample, always included the rudiments of geography; astronomy 
included physics; grammar included literature; rhetoric in- 
cluded history. The actual extent to which the literature of 
the ancients found any place whatever under grammar and 
rhetoric is a question to which very diverse answers are given. 
Isidore and Cassiodorus (p. 124) knew Greek and possessed 
a small library of Greek classics; but during the following cen- 
turies, the knowledge of the Greek language almost disappeared 



Middle Ages: Education as Discipline 123 

from western Europe. Even the indirect knowledge of Greek 
literature, through Latin summaries or through extended ref- 
erences by such writers as Boethius, was very meager, as, 
indeed, was that of Latin literature. Some of the writings of 
Virgil and of Cicero were well known. For the most part, 
however, monasteries possessed but very few of the works of 
classical authors. The general attitude toward this literature The hostile 
and its study was distinctly hostile. Alcuin tells his pupils at fo^^^^j^ut ^ 
Tours, "The sacred poets are sufficient for you; there is no atureasa 
reason why you should sully your mind with the rank luxuriance "^ ^^* 
of Virgil's verse." 

EDUCATIONAL WRITERS OF THE EARLY MIDDLE 
AGES. — A few of the most important of these deserve to be 
mentioned. 

Martianus Capella, a representative of the pagan culture of Capeiia's 
North Africa, wrote (between 410-427 a.d.) a treatise entitled pl'Jfgff^^^ 
The Marriage 0} Philology and Mercury. Throughout the first and Mercury 
half of the Middle Ages this was used more widely than any other 
book as a text of the ancient learning. The god Mercury desires 
to marry, and all the machinery of the pagan heaven is set in 
motion, first to determine to whom, and then to celebrate the 
consummation of the marriage to the most learned maiden, 
Philology. The seven bridesmaids, or handmaidens, presented 
by Phcebus, are the Ars Grammatica, Ars Dialectica, Ars Rhe- 
torica, Geometrica, Arithmetica, Astronomia, Harmonia, and 
each, as led forward in the ceremony, gives her parentage and 
expounds to the assembly the substance of the art typified. 
These speeches contain, in the driest of text-book form, prac- 
tically all of the learning of the schools of these centuries. 

jBoethius (c. 480-524) was the most influential of all the Text-books 
learned men of the early Middle Ages. His chief service was °^ Boethius 
io give to several succeeding centuries the little knowledge of the 
Greek writers, especially of Plato and Aristotle, that they pre- 
served. While some of his briefer treatises gave impetus to the 
early scholastic movement, his more important works were not 



124 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Literary in- 
fluence of 
Cassiodorus 
on education 



Etymologies 
of Isidore 



Grammars 



known until the twelfth century. He gave to the Middle Ages 
logic and ethics, or the basis of the entire dialectic element in 
their education. He also wrote on arithmetic, geometry and 
music. These works of his were extensively used as text-books; 
some continued to be employed in some universities until well 
into the eighteenth century. 

Cassiodorus (c. 490-585) was the prime minister of at least 
four of the early barbarian emperors, or Gothic kings, and thus 
served them as the interpreter of Latin culture as well as the 
exponent of their will to the conquered Romans. The latter 
half of his long life was spent in a monastery which he himself 
had founded. Here he wrote for his monks commentaries, text- 
books and an educational treatise containing a presentation of 
the seven liberal arts. Cassiodorus laid much emphasis upon 
study by the monks, urged them to give attention to classical 
writings, and directed that those without interest in letters 
should devote themselves to agriculture. These should read 
Cato, Columella and others writers on agriculture. Much of 
his wealth he devoted to the collection of manuscripts. It was 
through his influence that the custom of copying these as a spe- 
cific part of the work of the monasteries, became established. 
To the influence of Cassiodorus was largely due the dissemi- 
nation of the custom, begun by one of his monks in 562 a.d., of 
dating from the Christian era. 

Isidore (c. 570-636), bishop of Seville, is the distinctive rep- 
resentative of the mediaeval learning. For his monks and clergy 
he composed an encyclopedia called Origines or Etymologies, 
which purported to be a summary of all knowledge worth 
knowing. This served as a common text in all the sciences. 
To gain a general survey of the text-books of the early Middle 
Ages, there should be added to these few works the Grammars 
of Donatus (c. 333-400), and of Priscian (c. 500) and The 
Distychs of Cato (said to be the work of Cato the Elder, 234- 
149 B.C.). This latter was a selection of moral sentiments in 
versified form, illustrating grammatical and rhetorical structure. 



Middle Ages: Education as Discipline 125 



§ 3. THE CAROLINGIAN REVIVAL OF LEARNING 

THE WORK OF CHARLES THE GREAT (r. 771-814).— The fusion 
The one important aspect of educational history from the seventh °^ Roman 
to the twelfth centuries that was not wholly monastic, was the tonic eie- 
revival of learning under the Emperor Charlemame. The task '"^"^^ ''^ 

Ti icTrx^ civilization 

of this great emperor was to unify the work of the Teuton and 
that of the Roman, to adjust the barbarian Frank to the Roman 
culture, to transfer the foundations of social organization to 
the German, who was hereafter to build upon it the structure 
of modern society. The transfer of the religious element had 
been made through the Holy Catholic Church, and the barba- 
rians were now at least nominal Christians. Through the Holy 
Roman Empire, estabhshed by Charles in 800, the political 
and legal structure of society was finally accepted by the Teuton. 
There remained to be added to these forms of external unity, 
that internal unity which consists in a community of ideas, of 
language, and of the cultural elements of social hfe. It was 
the ambition of Charles to bring about this union, by the adoption 
of the Latin language, of the learning of the Church, and of 
such of the Roman culture as survived. 

I In 782 Charles called Alcuin from the cathedral school at The palace 
York to assist him in this work. For a century or more pre- f^^po'^^nd 

■' i Its influence 

ceding this time, Irish monks had been largely instrumental in 
missionary and educational activities on the Continent, and the 
chaplains of the court of the Merovingian kings had in a way 
attempted to foster learning. But this school of the palace was 
developed by Alcuin into a definite institution, patronized by 
Charles himself, by other members of the royal family, and by 
the youth of the nobility.. From it Charles drew many of his 
assistants in the administration of his great empire. While 
the work of the school was very meager in its literary character, 
yet its importance was great owing to the influence which it 
exerted as an example. In 787 and following years, Charles 



126 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Alcuin as 
Abbot of 
Tours 



issued his capitularies upon schools, which have been considered 
by some, though in a somewhat figurative sense we beHeve, 
to be the foundations of modern education, — "the charter 
of modern thouglit." They commanded the study of letters 
both by the clergy and by the monks. 

The capitulary of 789 says: "Let every monastery and every 
abbey have its school, where boys may be taught the Psalms, 
the system of musical notation, singing, arithmetic, and grammar; 
and let the books which are given them be free from faults, 
and let care be taken that the boys do not spoil them either when 
reading or writing." Charles's officials, the missi dominici, 
were empowered to visit all monasteries, in order to enforce the 
provisions of these edicts and to see that the monks lived ac- 
cording to their rules. At least in one bishopric, that of Orleans, 
there was an attempt to carry out similar provisions in regard 
to the parish churches, and thus to form a system of elementary 
schools. This gives basis to the extravagant claim that elemen- 
tary education for the lower classes was more general in France 
in the eighth century than in the early half of the nineteenth 
century. The other extreme of interpretation is given by Gibbon, 
who summarizes the whole movement by saying that " the em- 
peror strove to acquire the practice of writing, which every 
peasant now acquires in his infancy." 

Alcuin (735-804), on account of his influence upon Charles, 
as seen through these various edicts, is generally regarded as the 
most important educator during the first half of the Middle Ages. 
The abbacy of Tours, which Charles bestowed upon Alcuin in 
794, was the most important ecclesiastical office in France. 
Its landed possessions were almost a department in extent, and 
it was offered as a reproach to Alcuin that he was master of 
twenty thousand slaves. This monastery Alcuin made the 
center of learning in France as well as the center of influence 
in the Church. To him flocked the youth desirous of learning, 
and from the monastery went out an ever increasing stream of 
influence in the work of his pupils and disciples, in numerous 



Middle Ages: Education as Discipline 127 

monasteries throughout the land. In Alcuin's later years, his 

ideas of education grew more restricted. He rejected the study His ideas 

of the classical literature, to which as a youth he himself had ^feduca- 

' •' tion were 

been addicted ; he emphasized the ascetic aspect of the monastic narrow 
training; he limited his pupils and the monasteries in general 
to the study of the sacred writings. On the other hand, he took 
pains to build up a great library at Tours, sending copyists 
to England for this purpose, and encouraged a like activity 
and interest in the other monasteries. Though his learning 
was probably as great as that of any one of his century, yet his 
scholarship was Hmited. His great service was to bring learning 
to the support of the Church, and in conjunction with Charles 
to demonstrate that intellectual training was quite as essential to 
the welfare of society as efforts at purely rehgious and moral 
betterment. 

Following Cassiodorus, with whose writings he was familiar. Educational 
and from whom he borrowed in his own writings on the hberal Aicuin 
arts, he identified these latter with the seven pillars of the temple 
of wisdom and thus gave Bibhcal sanction to such study. He 
himself wrote on Grammar, on Rhetoric, on Dialectic, on Arith- 
metic, and on The Seven Liberal Arts. The treatises on the 
special subjects are in the catechetical form, — that of question 
and answer, — so familiar for centuries to come. Some of them 
are almost puerile in character. The arithmetic consists of 
fifty-three propositions, of which forty-five are in simple reck- 
oning. Many are in arithmetical and geometrical proportion, 
with little or no idea of principles involved. Several are trivial 
catch questions of modern almanac variety, such as " After a 
farmer has turned thrice at each end of the field, how many 
furrows has he drawn?" Alcuin's reputation as a scholar 
depended upon his several works on grammar. 

Rabanus Maurus (776-856) was the ablest and most noted The school 
pupil of Aicuin. As the abbot of Fulda, the first and most im- ^^ ^y^<^^ 

^ ^ ' under 

portant monastery and school in North Germany, he exerted Rabanus 
an influence in this region similar to that of Aicuin in Frank- 



I 



128 Brief Course in the History of Education 

land. Like Alcuin, he had some shght knowledge of Greek, 
but being of more virile mind his chief interest was in dialectic 
instead of in grammar. Dialectic he terms the science of 
sciences, which teaches us how to teach and how to learn. 
One of his important works. The Education of the Clergy, con- 
tains a treatise on the seven liberal arts and hence covers the 
entire field of education of his day. 

Joannes Scotus Erigina, or John the Scot (c. 8io-c. 875), 
the most noted successor of Alcuin in the palace school, was 
called by Charles the Bald, about 845, from the British Isles 
as Alcuin had been by Charles. Of greater scholarship than 
either Alcuin or Rabanus, he introduced the study of the Greek 
language and brought a wider knowledge of the ancient learn- 
ing, especially of the Greek Fathers, than had hitherto been found 
among the Teutons. With a much more liberal attitude toward 
the pagan authors, with whom he had a fairly wide acquaintance, 
he made the work of Capella the chief text in secular learning 
in the monasteries. Of more vigorous mind than any of his 
predecessors, he laid more emphasis upon the study of dialectic 
than had any before him. Being somewhat heretical in his 
views, he stimulated an unprecedented activity in theological 
discussion. With John the long conflict between realism and 
nominalism really begins. The work and influence of Rabanus 
Maurus and John the Scot lead directly to the great revival 
of intellectual interest in the eleventh and the twelfth centuries 
which will be discussed under scholasticism. 



§ 4. SCHOLASTICISM. EDUCATION AS AN INTELLECTUAL 
DISCIPLINE jJc^A ^ 

NATURE OF SCHOLASTICISM. — Scholasticism is the 
term given to the type of intellectual life, and hence of edu- 
cation, that prevailed from the eleventh to the fifteenth century 
inclusive. It was largely responsible for the origin of univer- 
sities and represented the work of these institutions for three 



Middle Ages: Education as Discipline 129 

or four centuries. Scholasticism produced a vast literature Sch 
which possesses very distinct characteristics of its own. Its [^'p" 
aim was definite, though narrow; its subject-matter restricted; 'pte 
its method keen and subtle ; its outcome fruitful in the develop- ^j^jj. 
ment of certain mental traits and abilities. As a type of in- duri 
tellectual life, scholasticism has been as grossly abused and as Age; 
much underestimated during the centuries following its over- 
throw by the Renaissance movement of the sixteenth century, it is 

as it was over-valued by its own devotees. Scholasticism is ^^^^ 

. . . . P""!*^ 

not characterized by any group of principles or behefs, but is 

rather a pecuhar method or type of intellectual activity. 

THE PURPOSE OF SCHOLASTIC THOUGHT. —The dom- Witi 
inant characteristic of the intellectual hfe of the early half of l^^\ 
the Middle Ages was the attitude of unquestioned obedience med.. 
to authority; of receptivity to all doctrines, statements or inci- ther. 
dents sanctioned by the Church; of dependence upon formal suite 
truths dogmatically established; of an antagonism to any state thou 
of doubt, of questioning or of inquiry as wrong and sinful in 
itself. By the eleventh century a new attitude was necessary. 
Heretical views had crept in from the East and had to be met 
by argument as well as by force. A few men of exceptional 
learning, especially John the Scot of the ninth century, had 
suggested many questions that could not be ignored. The 
study of dialectic, which had received new and unprecedented 
emphasis from the time of Rabanus Maurus, had stimulated 
an interest in intellectual activity and in the logical formu- 
lation and statement of religious beliefs. The Crusade move- 
ment had broken down the isolation and the rusticity of the 
people of the West through their contact with the variety of 
beliefs in the East. All these changes stimulated new intel- 
lectual interests and made it necessary to state religious beliefs 
in new forms. 
The purpose of scholasticism was to bring reason to the sup- Sup- 
ort of faith; to strengthen the religious life and the Church ^^*^' 
y the development of intellectual power. It aimed to silence 



of 



ge; 



130 Brief Course in the History of Education 

all doubts and questionings through argument. Faith was, 
however, still considered superior to reason. The credo ut 
intellegam ("I believe in order that I may understand") of 
Anselm was the dominant principle throughout the period. 
Church doctrines had long been formulated; they were now to 
be analyzed, defined, systematized. 
Inai Educationally, the purpose of scholasticism was included 
within this broad purpose. Scholastic training aimed to de- 
velop the power of formulating beliefs into a logical system and 
the power of presenting and defending such statements of 
beliefs against all arguments that might be brought against 
them. At the same time it strove to avoid developing an at- 
titude of mind that would be critical of the fundamental prin- 
ciples already established by authority. Iji^a more general 
way the aim of scholastic education was to systematize knowl- 
edge and thus give it scientific form. But to the scholastic • 
mind knowledge was primarily of a theological and philosophi- 
cal character. The scientific form valued was that of deductive 
logic. In this, the aim of scholastic education was brilliantly 
successful. Most exhaustive systems of knowledge, compassing 
the whole range of their interest, were elaborated. In some 
cases these systems were of such profundity that they have few 
rivals in more modern times and even yet serve as both basis and 
content of the intellectual life of large portions of modern society. 
The third aspect of the educational purpose of scholasticism was 
to give to the individual a mastery of this knowledge, now 
reduced to propositions and syllogisms, all systematized into a 
logical whole. 

THE CONTENT OF SCHOLASTICISM. — Scholasticism was 
the complete reduction of rehgious thought to logical form. 
Since this organization was furnished entirely by the logical 
writings of Aristotle, scholasticism is often defined as the union 
of Christian beliefs and Aristotelian logic. All other phases | 
of knowledge were subsumed under the religious. All legiti 
mate knowledge had to be sanctioned by the Church; i 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 1 3 1 

had to be given its place in the system of scholastic thought Given a 
and reduced to the appropriate logical form. To do this was ^gJ form " 
the task of the Schoolmen. 

The primary interests of the times were in the great doc- statement of 
trines of the Church concerning justification, predestination, ch^^urcMn" 
. the Trinity, the freedom of the will, the doctrine of the eucha- terms of 
rist. The proper philosophical statement of these and of Greek phi- 
similar doctrines, the reduction of all to a harmonized system, 
their presentation with answers to all objections to the ortho- 
dox view and with refutations of all unorthodox interpretations, 
constituted the content of scholastic literature. Now it happened 
that during the very same period when circumstances emphasized 
the necessity of supporting by reason the beliefs of the Church, 
a certain fragmentary knowledge of the fundamental philosoph- 
ical problems discussed by Plato and Aristotle became prev- 
alent. In the very nature of the problem, the interpretation 
of the orthodox views came to depend upon the acceptance of 
some such view of the nature of reality as that of Plato, and the 
heretical theological views became bound up with a metaphys- 
ical doctrine contradictory to that of Plato. 
j' Plato's views that ideas, concepts, universals, constituted the Nominalism 
' only reality, became accepte3"By the orthodox Schoolmen under '"^' ^^ ^^^ 

the name of realism. By the Schoolmen such general concepts 

t'were regarded as the archetypes in the Divine reason, and the 

' various phenomenal existences and the species were regarded 

;as merely copies or reflections of these thoughts of the Deity. 

The view that such ideas or universals are only names, and that 

reality consists in the individual concrete objects, — in the 

species of Aristotle, — was termed nominalism. The conflict 

between these two schools of metaphysicians continued long 

and loud, through four centuries and in innumerable volumes. 

But these views were of more than metaphysical interest; Practical 
they compassed all interests. Consider, for a moment, the theTe^phiio- 
application of the views of the fundamental doctrines pre- sophicai 
viously suggested. At this period the doctrine of transub- ^^^^^ 



132 Brief Course in the History of Education 

stantiation had peculiar practical importance, on account of 
growing heresies, especially the Manichean. Beheving that 
all matter was evil, the followers of Manicheus held that Christ's 
life was only an appearance and that the true God was not the 
God of the Old Testament. Now if ideas, i.e. what Plato called 
substances, are realities, as the reahst held, and are hence in- 
dependent of the accidents, attributes or qualities which identify 
them in the concrete and which to the nominalist constitute 
the only reality, then it is possible to distinguish between the 
substance and the accident, and it is possible to conceive of 
a change in the substance without any corresponding change 
in the attribute. Thus the Church justified its belief in the doc- 
trine of transubstantiation, or the actual change in the bread and 
wine of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Thus this sacra- 
ment of the Church, wherein contact between Christ and the 
flesh was demonstrated daily, was an answer to the heresy that 
the divine could not have lived in contact with a wicked world. 
The explanations of other doctrines were very similar. So these 
philosophical views furnished characteristic solutions to all 
theological problems. 
Great scho- The educational content of scholasticism consisted in the 
books '^^*' J^ost noted of these systematized schemes of lear l^r with 
the innumerable comments upon them. During u.L twelfth 
and thirteenth centuries the two most noted of these were con- 
structed, — The SententicB of Peter the Lombard (c. iioo- 
c. 1 160) and the Summa Theologicce of Thomas Aquinas (1225- i 
1279). The former of these was the most generally used text- 
book of the remaining scholastic centuries. The latter was, and 
yet remains, the most complete and thorough presentation of the 
knowledge of the times, or, to be more exact, of the theology of 
the Church. It is still accepted by the Roman CathoHc Church, 
as the orthodox presentation of its beliefs. 

Preliminary to the mastery of such summaries of knowl- 
edge, scholastic education demanded the mastery of the science 
of logic or dialectic as a preparation for the practice of the art. 



Middle Ages: Education as Discipline 133 

In general, the content of scholasticism and of scholastic educa- 
tion deals with the abstract and immaterial; while the tendency 
in current education is to reject all subject-matter of this nature 
and to deal only with that which is concrete and material in 
character. 




A Medieval Disputation 

A Woodcut of the Fifteenth Century 



THE FORM OF SCHOLASTIC KNOWLEDGE. —The idea Logical or- 

of organizing knowledge according to the mental development ^^^n sub^ 

of the student is an idea of much later development. The com- jects of 

plementary principle, that of organization based .upon the logic ^'""^^ 



134 Brief Course in the History of Education 



The method 
of logical 
analysis 



The method 
of multiple 
interpre- 
tation 



of the subject, was fixed upon education for many centuries 
by this period of scholasticism. Hence in the introductory 
subjects, such as grammar, which the child first attempts in his 
school work, the most formal logical arrangement was adopted. 
The subject was presented to the child for his mastery in the 
order in which it appeals to the most mature mind. Previous 
to this time, the catechetical arrangement, that of questions and 
answers, was much followed, even in treatises upon the seven 
liberal arts. But with scholasticism the systematized, logical 
form prevailed almost to the exclusion of the other. 

THE METHOD OF SCHOLASTICISM was that of logical 
analysis. In reality there were two distinct methods used by 
the Schoolmen and in the universities as well. The one in most 
general approval was the analytical. The entire subject if 
a treatise by a Schoolman, or the entire text if a course of lectures 
in the university, was divided into appropriate parts, then into 
heads, subheads, subdivisions, etc., down to the particular 
proposition of each sentence. Each topic was examined most 
minutely after the manner of Aristotelian logic, under the 
headings of formal, final, material and efficient causes ; of 
literal, allegorical, mystical and moral meaning. Thus with 
analyzed text and comment upon the basis of each division, 
the student was overwhelmed with a multitude of fine meta- 
physical distinctions. 

The other and freer method was that of stating the propo- 
sition, then the several possible interpretations with the diffi- 
culties of each interpretation, with the final selection of the 
favored one. The solution favored gave rise to other problems; 
these in turn suggested varying solutions with their appropriate 
answers. In respect to definite conclusions and to the syste- 
matic arrangement of knowledge, this method was inferior to 
the former. But in its stimulus to thought, to the freedom of 
inquiry, and to general progressiveness, it was far more bene- 
ficial in its influence. 

DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOLASTICISM. —The doctrinal 



Middle Ages ; EdtLcatio7i as Discipline 135 

disputes in dialectic form, especially those concerning transub- Scotus 
stantiation, began with Scotus Erigina and his follower Beranger "^'"^ 
(d. 1088). Then logical and philosophical interests were wholly 
subordinate. During the eleventh century the conflict between 
realism and nominalism became definitely formulated in the 
discussions between x\nselm (c. 1034-1109) and Roscellinus Anselm 
(d. 1 106). Anselm was called the father of scholasticism. 
The critical work of Roscellinus was continued by one of his 
pupils, and one of the greatest of the Schoolmen, Abelard Abelard 
(Petrus Abelardus, 1079-1142), who, however, opposed the 
extreme nominalism of one of his teachers as he did the realism 
of Wilham of Champeaux, his other teacher. His philosophical 
position, strikingly similar to that of Aristotle — a fact then 
unknown — was the compromise view of conceptualism. Ac- 
cording to this view universals are existent, though not inde- 
pendent of the phenomenal form in which they exist, save as 
conceptions in the divine mind before creation. Abelard's 
position regarding the great philosophical question was a con- 
ciliatory one ; but his real influence, and his writings in general, 
were far from it. His most influential work, Sic et Non (Yea 
and Nay), was a collection of passages from the Bible and from 
patristic writings, designed to show the conflicting ideas or 
views of the religious and ecclesiastical authorities, but giving 
no decision concerning their solution. Consequently inquiry 
was stimulated and the importance of research emphasized. 
But the unanimity of ecclesiastical authority being ques- 
tioned, doubt was thrown upon its reliabihty. Abelard 
held that reason was antecedent to faith, and that much of 
Christian belief could be supplied by reason. The arrogance 
of ecclesiastical authority was thus shattered. Though the 
man and his writings were condemned, his life blighted by per- 
secution, and his views regarded as heretical, yet his influence con- 
tinued to exist as one of the most powerful forces in scholastic 
thought during the following period. 
The thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries constituted the 



136 Brief Course in the History of Education 



The great 
scholastic 
centuries 



The work 
and reputa- 
tion of the 
great School- 
men 



William of 
Occam and 
the d9mi- 
nance of 
nominaUsm 



period of the complete dominance of scholasticism. During 
this period philosophy and theology seem to have been in com- 
plete sympathy; the widest extension was given to philosophical 
thought in its Christian dress ; theological views were elaborated 
into most perfect and complicated systems; reason and faith 
were in fullest accord. 

THE GREAT SCHOOLMEN. —The first of the Schoohnen 
to be acquainted with the entire philosophy of Aristotle and to 
employ it in the service of theology was Alexander of Hales' 
(d. 1245), The Irrefragable Doctor, author of Summa Theologies. 
Bonaventura (1221-1274), The Seraphic Doctor, sl Platonist 
rather than an Aristotelian in his philosophy, represented as did 
the Victorines of the preceding century the mystical tendency 
in thought and education. Albertus Magnus (i 193-1280), 
called The Universal Doctor, was the first to reproduce the phil- 
osophy of Aristotle in systematic form and with constant refer- 
ence to the Arabic commentaries that constituted so large a part 
of the new knowledge of the times. Thomas Aquinas (1225- 
1274), The Angelic Doctor, was the most influential of all. 
In his great work (p. 131) he represents the culmination of 
scholasticism, and is its authoritative exponent both in his own 
period and in subsequent times. Joannes Duns Scotus (c. 1271- 
1308), The Subtle Doctor, was famous as a founder of a school 
of theology rival to that of Thomas; his work, however, was 
rather of a critical and negative than of a constructive char- 
acter. 

The long line of great Schoolmen was closed by William of 
Occam (i 280-1347), The Invincible Doctor, who revived again 
the nominahstic views. His work was rather an attack upon the 
entire realistic system than a formulation of specific doctrines. 
In general, Occam denied that theological doctrines could be 
demonstrated by reason, and held that they were wholly matters 
of faith. He held that particulars alone were real and that uni- 
versal were mere conceptions of the mind. Thus he prepared 
the way for the careful, concrete study of the objects of nature 



Middle Ages: Education as Discipline 137 

and of the mind. Whatever was vital to the spirit of progress 
now lived in nominalism only, and soon passed over into 
the new spirit of the fifteenth- century Renaissance. The old 
scholasticism persisted, but it no longer represented the pro- 
gressive intellectual hfe or the most vital educational ideas and 
procedures. 

MERITS AND DEMERITS OF SCHOLASTIC EDUCATION, interest in 
— The first great limitation of the Schoolmen, and one sufficient ^'"g".'"^"*' 

o ' _ not in valid- 

to call forth the condemnation of the modern mind, is that they ity of con- 
never stopped to inquire concerning the validity of the material ^ "^'°'^ 
with which they dealt or to ascertain whether they had all the 
data before attempting the conclusion. A second and related 
Hmitation is that the material they dealt with was abstract and 
metaphysical and was not supplemented by any knowledge 
of the concrete and physical. The truths they reached pos- 
sessed only formal value. Such truths would affect primarily Formal 
the thought life, and only indirectly and remotely the conduct character of 

o ' -' -' -' conclusion 

of the people. One further decided limitation of the Schoolmen 
was the fact that much of their discussion possessed no reality; 
not only no reality in the concrete world of everyday life, but also 
no vahdity in thought. Much of it consisted merely of endless 
and profitless discussions about words and terms. Even against 
the greatest of the Schoolmen such a criticism is often valid. 
On the other hand, much of the modern contempt for the School- 
men in this respect is based upon a failure to apprehend their 
point of view and their interest. To them all questions must 
be given a philosophical form and a theological bearing. Hence 
such trivial or even sacrilegious questions as those which are so 
often quoted as indicative of the puerility and utter worthlessness charge of 
of scholastic learning in reality deal with subjects regarded as of P"^"^i*y due 
vital importance in our own times. " How many angels can misunder- 
stand on the point of a needle?" "Can God make two hills standing 
without the intervening valley?" "What happens when a 
mouse eats the consecrated host?" — all such questions con- 
ceal beneath their simple form the profound inquiries concerning 



138 Brief Course in the History of Education 

the relation of the finite to the infinite, the attributes of the in- 
finite, the nature of reahty. Give them a form that only the 
trained metaphysician can understand and they constitute the 
profundities of modern thought; give them such form as the 
untrained adult or the youth just beginning his course of scho- 
lastic studies can comprehend and handle, and they form the 
" monstrosities " of the Schoolmen. 



§5- 



THE UNIVERSITIES 



ORIGIN OF UNIVERSITIES. — Under the stimulus of the 
interest in dialectic, a number of schools connected with the 
cathedrals and monasteries sprang into prominence in the later 
eleventh and early twelfth century. The essential elements of 
the early university — the students and the teachers — were 
found at Paris before the middle of the twelfth century. With 
the eleventh century western Europe, especially the Church, 
began to throw off the incubus to enterprise and the obstacle to 
greater intellectual freedom that existed in the belief that the 
millennium was at hand. The fact that during the tenth and the 
eleventh centuries the Northmen, the last of the migratory 
Teutons, accepted a settled life and gave to France and England 
a period of comparative peace, permitted a development of the 
interests of a stable civilization. Though they showed little 
appreciation as yet for the cultural aspects of life, these same 
Normans, in fact the Teutons in general, were endowed with 
virile minds. Hence they were drawn to dialectic discussion, 
as they could not have been to a mere literary study of apprecia- 
tion; and more and more, as other lines of activity were reduced 
to the orderliness of a complex society, they turned their genius 
into intellectual lines. This new Teutonic blood affected Italy 
as well as England, France and Germany. The papacy and the 
Church in general had recovered from its period of greatest 
degradation, and through its struggle with the Holy Roman 
emperors had acquired new strength and new interests. This 



Middle Ages : Educatio7i as Discipline 1 39 

affected intellectual pursuits and stimulated the study of dialectic, 
theology and canon law. The development of commercial 
enterprise and municipal government, especially in the Itahan 
cities, stimulated secular interests and secular learning. Mean- 
while the Crusade movement had begun. The isolation of Euro- 
pean society — which under early feudalism had not really been 
one society but a series of isolated groups — was broken down. 
The communication of ideas was stimulated and the intellectual New intei- 
horizon expanded immensely. It was discovered that the " bar- ^^"^^^^"^ ^^^^r- 
barians " of the East had reason to consider, in turn, the people 
of the West as " barbarians." The attitude of inquiry and of 
freedom of opinion, which belonged to the East, began to 
affect the West. This contact with the East and with Saracen 
learning, not only brought to Europe a knowledge of Arabic 
culture and science, but it also furnished in the thirteenth 
century a completer knowledge of Aristotle and of Greek 
philosophy. 

These influences combined in varying proportions : no two No uni- 
universities were founded by the concurrence of exactly the ^°''"^i*y^'^ 

-' .' causes or 

same circumstances. Each had some causes of origin pecuhar origin of 
to itself and all the earliest ones were, in reality, schools where versides"'^'' 
one or two special studies were pursued. 

THE FOUNDING OF THE UNIVERSITIES. — In southern 
Italy, where the contact with the Saracens, the Normans, where the 
old population of Greek origin was intimate, and where a more 
direct acquaintance with Greek Hterature was preserved, there 
had grown up, in connection with the monastery at Salerno, an Saiemo 
interest in the study and practice of medicine. The work and 
teachings of the monks along these lines were stimulated by the 
first Crusade and the fame of this school was spread abroad by 
the returning knights. Under the shadow of the monastic in- 
fluence there grew up a school for the teaching of medicine, 
which in a way became the first university. In 1224 the school 
was united with that of the neighboring city of Naples and char- 
tered by Frederick II as the University of Naples. 



140 Brief Course in the History of Education 

In the northern Italian cities, struggling as they were with the 
German emperor for their rights, a new and vital interest grew 
up in Roman law. The emperor based most of his claims to 
authority upon the rights of the old Roman emperors; the 
cities sought to check these claims by a knowledge of charters, 
of edicts, and of legal limitations that had long been forgotten. 
There grew up in several of these cities schools for the study of 

Bologna law. That at Bologna was made famous by the greatest of these 
' early teachers, Irnerius (1067-c. 1138), in the same manner that 
Paris had been raised to distinction by Abelard, and large 
numbers of students collected here. 

These bodies of students and teachers were given privileges 
in the form of a written document from emperor or pope, which 
became the charter or charters of the institution. It was only 
much later that an institution was organized by conferring on it 
outright all desired privileges. At Bologna the first charter was 

Paris given by Emperor Frederick I, in 1158. Paris received its first 

recognition from Louis VII in 11 80 and was recognized by the 
pope about the same time. Its full recognition came in 1200. 
At Oxford and Cambridge the date of the formal recognition by 
charter is yet more difficult to determine, but it was somewhat 
later. In all these cases the large groups of students and teach- 
ers had existed for some time previous to charter organization, 
and schools had existed under monastic or Church control in 
all these centers for an indefinite period. 

Numbers Chartered institutions, that is those possessing special privi- 

leges, quickly came to exert peculiar influence and were rapidly 
multipHed. During the thirteenth century nineteen of these 
institutions were created by popes and monarchs; during the 
fourteenth, twenty-five more were added; and during the 
fifteenth, thirty more. 

STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION OF UNIVERSITIES. — 
Other features of the universities that distinguished them from 
previous schools were their government, democratic in its 
nature; their location in centers of population rather than in 



Middle Ages: Education as Discipline 141 

remote spots, such as those sought by the monasteries ; and their 
special privileges, legal and pecuniary. 

Privileges of Universities. — In general, these charters con- Universities 
ferred upon all masters and students, and even upon their prl^ne^gof 
attendants, the privileges of the clergy. Such privileges ex- the Church; 
empted students from official service ; from military service, 
except under specific limitations {e.g. at Paris only when the 
enemy were within five leagues of the city wall); from taxation, 
especially the petty local exactions; from contributions, etc. 
One of the most important of these privileges was that of internal 
jurisdiction. Just as the clergy had obtained the right of trying of jurisdic- 
their own members in all civil and many criminal cases, so in 



own mem- 



turn the universities developed much the same power over their bers; 
own members and their adherents. The civil, or at least police 
jurisdiction, which the German university yet exercises over its 
student members, and the special favor of a privileged standard 
of conduct which the American college student claims, are 
survivals of this once extended right. The other important 
privilege of universities is that of granting the degree, which of granting 
was merely the license to teach. Previous to this time this teadi^'° 
privilege had been granted only by the Church through the 
archbishop, the bishop or one of their subordinate officers; 
and thus the Church had controlled the method and the content 
of teaching. 

These privileges possessed a sanction not granted by 
charter but developed by usage, known as cessatio, the right 
of " striking " or of moving the university, if its privileges 
were infringed. Thus the importance of Oxford dates from 
a migration from Paris in 1229; the importance of Cambridge 
from a similar disturbance at Oxford in 1209. 

The Nations and the University. — These privileges had to be Division of 
conferred upon more definite bodies of people than the studium l^culs'^ 
generate. The most natural division of these heterogeneous body into 
masses of students and teachers, drawn from all over Europe at 
a time when territorial lines were very indefinite and national 



142 Brief Course in the History of Education 



distinctions were more genetic than territorial and political, 
was that of language and kinship. Hence students and masters 
organized into groups according to their national affiliations. 
And it was to these nations singly, or more often in group organi- 
zation, that privileges were granted. Such a body was called 
universitas magistrorum et scholarium. The term universitas 
means primarily " all of us," and had the general significance 
of our word corporation or association or company. In time, 
but not until the fourteenth century, this one word came to 
be used instead of the previous more general term. 

At Paris there were four nations, the French, the Normans, 
the Picards, and the English (after the Hundred Years' War 
began, the last was changed to German). In Bologna there 
were at first four universities ; then two, the Cisalpine, consist- 
ing of seventeen nations, and the Transalpine, of eighteen. 
Finally, all were amalgamated into one organization. 

The Faculties. — The organization of the nations had to do 
with conduct, civil rights, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. It had 
httle direct reference to the studies. In time, however, it be- 
came necessary to regulate studies and methods, — in fact, 
scholastic procedure in general. The faculties were therefore 
a somewhat later development than the nations. The term 
itself, quite as indefinite as the term university, simply meant 
knowledge or science; but in time it was applied to a depart- 
ment of study, as faculty of law, theology, arts, etc., and finally 
to the body of men, previously termed cotisortum magistrorum, 
that had control of a particular department of study. This 
body was originally composed of all who had taken their 
degree, and as it developed, obtained control of the granting of 
degrees. 

Governing Body and Other Officials. — The nations elected, 
usually annually, a procurator or councilor; each faculty, a 
dean; and these representatives together, a rector of the uni- 
versity. This official head of the university possessed only 
delegated power, was usually elected annually, and in the South 



Middle Ages: Education as Discipline 14; 




The univer- 
sity system 
compared 
with the 
guild sys- 
tem 



was usually a student. By the sixteenth century, these head 
officials had become for the most part political appointees, and 
the nations had long since lost all material authority. 

DEGREES. —The nature of the degree and of the entire 
work of the university can best be understood by a compari- 
son with some simpler as- 
pects of mediaeval life ^p' 
which the student life par- 
alleled. Such, for example, 
is the chivalric education, 
with its seven years of train- 
ing as a page and seven 
years as a squire preceding 
the acquirement of full 
knighthood (p. 149). A 
similar parallel can be 
found in the making of a 
master in any craft or mer- 
cantile pursuit, where the 
youth had first to serve 
seven years as an ap- 
prentice ; then as a journey- 
man he served under a 
master for a further period, 
during which he received 
a wage; finally, he became a master possessing full rights 
in the guild. In quite a similar way the youth of thirteen 
or fourteen who wished to study the liberal arts, or to prepare 
himself for teaching, was obhged when he appeared at the 
university to enroll himself with a master who was, for the time- 
being, responsible for him. Here he served an apprenticeship The educa- 
of from three to seven years, until he learned to read the ordinarv ^'°"^^ ^'^°" 

■' ' -' cesses 

texts in grammar, rhetoric and logic, and to define the words and 
determine the meaning of phrases, and the use of terms and 
classifications. When he could define and determine, he 



A Youthful Masjer of Arts and 
HIS Pupils 

A Woodcut of the Fifteenth Century 



144 Brief Course in the History of Education 



After sub- 
mitting a 
"master- 
piece" is 
made " a 
master of 
arts" 



continued his studies and at the same time, as a journeyman 
workman, gave instruction under the direction of a master to 
the younger boys. After this further period of study, in which 
he famiharized himself with the required texts and learned to 
carry on logical disputations, he was permitted to demonstrate 
this abiHty, as a journeyman workman makes a " masterpiece," 
by defending in pubhc a thesis. His opponents were the 
members of the faculty, or those who already possessed the 
degree, since these were the " masters " of the Arts which he 
professed. This having been done successfully, he was given 
the degree, the licentiate, the mastership, the doctorate — • 
whatever it might be called. Master, doctor, professor, were 
synonymous terms in the early university period. Such a 
degree signified that the possessor was able to dispute as well 
as to define and determine, and authorized him to teach publicly, 
i.e. admitted him to the " guild " of teachers. He was now on 
a parity with other members of the faculty, and could teach in 
the free competition into which they all entered. 

The preliminary degree, the baccalaureate, was in the be- 
ginning simply formal admission to candidacy for the license, 
and was not a degree in itself. During the fifteenth century it 
became a distinct stage in the educational process and hence 
quite well defined as a minor degree. 

THE METHODS AND CONTENT OF UNIVERSITY STUD- 
IES have been discussed under scholasticism. After the opening 
of the thirteenth century, the course of study was determined 
by papal bull or university statute. In the school of arts were 
used the grammatical works of Priscian, a work on grammatical 
figures by Donatus, the logical works of Aristotle given through 
Porphyry and Boethius. The Categories and the de Interpreta- 
tione of Aristotle, and the Isagoge of Porphyry, from which 
originated the realistic-nominalistic controversy, were known 
in the translations of Boethius. The remainder of the Organon 
was known only through summaries or other writings of Boethius. 
To these latter the greatest attention was given, and much time 




A Mediaeval University. Lecture on Theology fy Ai.bertus Magnus 

(1193-1280) 




Library of the University of Leyden (1610) 



Middle Ages: Education as Discipline 145 

in addition to the long hours in the lecture room was spent in 
listening to endless disputations or participating in them. 
At Paris the statutes of 12 15 introduced the Ethics of Aristotle, Dominance 
and in 1255 his Physics, Metaphysics and his treatise On the ° "stotie 
Soul were added. These works of Aristotle, previously inter- 
dicted at Paris, had been introduced somewhat earher in other 
universities. Elsewhere some other introductory works on 
logic might be substituted. Up to the middle of the fifteenth 
century, Aristotle controlled the work of the universities. The 
study of logic dominated the trivium, and rhetoric was given no 
attention whatever. The study of geometry and astronomy 
had made some ^'progress, especially in the Italian universities 
and in the University of Vienna. The work of the professional 
faculties consisted, likewise, in the study of a few fun- 
damental texts together with innumerable commentaries upon 
them. 

The early university education was wholly an education An education 
of books, with a very limited selection in each particular °ft)o°^s, 
field, but still those that were looked upon as furnishing 
in the written word absolute and ultimate authority. It was 
directed much more to the mastery of form and the develop- 
ment of the power of formal speech, especially argumenta- 
tion, than to the acquisition of knowledge, or to the pursuit but did de- 
of truth in the widest sense, or even to familiarizing the veiopeffi- 

ciency in, 

student with those literary sources of knowledge which, though debate 
lying within his grasp, were outside the pale of orthodox ecclesi- 
astical approval. 

THE INFLUENCE OF EARLY UNIVERSITIES. —The Political in- 
political influence of the universities, both direct and indirect, ^uence 
was marked. They furnished the first example of purely 
democratic organization. Freedom of discussion concerning 
political as well as ecclesiastical and theological matters here 
found its first home. While for the most part the sympathies 
of the universities would naturally be with the privileged classes, 
whose privileges they themselves had obtained, yet the university 



146 Brief Course in the History of Education 

often became the mouthpiece of the common people in opposition 
to king or priestcraft. 
Gave some The right of the university to a voice in the government, to a 
protection ^^^^^ jj^ ^|-^g parHamcnts of France, England, Scotland, is a 
of thought recognition of this political authority and of the fact that the 
andofspeech ^niygj-gity ^^(i bccomc a great " estate." Questions of state 
and of controversy between state and Church, such as the 
divorces of Henry VIII of England and of Philip of France, were 
submitted to the arbitration of the universities. The university 
often spoke for the nation in opposition to the papacy. In one 
instance the king of France and the university compelled the 
pope publicly to recant his views and to apologize, and in 
another secured the deposition of the head of the Church. 
Largely through the influence of the University of Paris the 
great schism in the papacy and the " Babylonian Captivity " 
were ended. In a similar way the university became an author- 
ity in the settlement of disputed doctrinal points, and in the 
determination of questions of heresy. In holding this balance 
of power, it tempered the extreme views of the papacy and 
especially of the papal representatives, — the friar bodies, — 
and thus mitigated, if it did not entirely eliminate, the operations 
of the inquisition in the north of Europe. 
A stimulus But it was in regard to the intellectual life, restricted, formal 

to the Intel- ^^^ meager though this was, that the greatest influence of the 
university was exerted. Intellectual interests were now crystal- 
lized into a great institution, recognized as almost on a parity 
with Church, state and nobility. This interest and its resulting 
institutional organization were so reduced by the fifteenth 
century as to possess little more than formal life. Yet even then 
the university provided a retreat for the rare genius who kept 
alive the spark of real intellectual life and so maintained a 
home for the new intellectual spirit when it did come. How- 
ever hostile it may have been during these centuries to innova- 
tion, to radicalism and to rationalism, yet in preserving the 
spirit of speculation the university kept alive the spirit of inquiry. 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 147 

.'■ f\ 
And out of it came such men as Roger Bacon, Dante, Petrarch, 
WycHffe, Huss, Copernicus, — the men who brought the modern 
spirit. 

§ 6. CHIVALRY. EDUCATION AS A SOCIAL DISCIPLINE 

NATURE AND ORIGIN OF CHIVALRY. — Chivalry repre- Chivalry 
sents the organization within secular society of those recognizing g^niz^tion 
the highest social ideals and attempting to realize them through of an ideal 
definitely established forms and customs. Chivalry was to the ckty cor°e- 
secular life what monasticism was to the religious life. It did spending to 
not necessarily include all of the nobility, but only those who ^°^g ^.^"^^^^ 
definitely accepted the highest obligations of a social character, ligious life 
Knighthood and the chivalric character were not inherited as 
nobihty was. The institution of chivalry represented the 
education which secular society received, and the training in 
knightly ideals and activities formed the only education of the 
members of the nobility. Like all education during the Middle 
Ages, this education was a discipline, both for the individual 
and for the social class; but the intellectual element in it was 
even shghter than in monasticism. 

The origin of chivalry is found in the character and customs Origin found 
of the Teutons, in the structure of later Roman society, and in the i^gu^^'^^ in 
Christian Church. The Church directed the energies of the survivals of 
Teutons into particular channels and discovered to them in many (,j°|^^r^uc-' 
of the teachings of Christianity a bond of sympathy between ture, and in 
the Church and the worthier traits of character of the barbarians, jdeak^^"^ 

THE IDEALS OF CHIVALRY form a very different concep- 
tion of personal virtue from that of classical society and involve strength and 
some radical modifications of the elements of the early Christian ^j^^gg i^^z\s, 
ideal. In speaking of the leader of the first Crusade, Cornish 
thus describes the knightly character, " We observe in them 
reckless courage, personal pride, and self-respect, courteous 
observance of the word of honor, if plighted according to 
certain forms, disregard of all personal advantage except 
military glory; and, on the other hand, savage ferocity, de- 



148 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Dignified 
service 
and obe- 
dience 



An educa- 
tion of 
discipline 



liberate cruelty, anger indulged in almost to the point of mad- 
ness, extravagant display, childish wastefulness, want of miU- 
tary discipline, want of good faith alike to Christians and 
infidels." Under chivalry these ideals, constituting the charac- 
ter of a gentleman, were very much more definitely formulated 
than in modern ages. As thus definitely organized, the knight 
summed up all duties of life under his obhgations to God, to his 
lord, and to his lady. 

Chivalry performed for the secular life a service identical with 
that performed by monasticism for the religious life, in that 
it dignified the ideal of service and held up to a rude and violent 
people the ideal of obedience to rule and to personal command. 
While this organization of society had its demerits, sanctioning 
or fostering a contempt for inferiors and being a regulation rather 
than an eradication of evil, it is difficult to overestimate its 
value in ameliorating the crudities and the barbarities of the 
life of the times through the new attitude toward service and 
obedience. 

Reverence for superiors, a consideration for inferiors, a gentle- 
ness toward the weak and the defenseless, a courtesy toward all 
women, were further amphfications of the ideal of service and 
obedience. A greater gentleness of manner, a consideration 
for others in deed and speech, in fact, a general amehoration 
of manners, followed throughout all classes of society. The 
general ideals of chivalry, its effect upon society and the indi- 
vidual, and, by reference, the character of the education it de- 
manded are indicated in this summary from Cornish: " Chivalry 
taught the world the duty of noble service willingly rendered. 
It upheld courage and enterprise in obedience to rule, it con- 
secrated military powers to the service of the Church, glorified 
the virtues of liberality, good faith, unselfishness and courtesy, 
and, above all, courtesy to women. Against these may be set 
the vices of pride, love of bloodshed, contempt of inferiors, 
and loose manners. Chivalry was an imperfect discipline, but 
it was a discipline, and one fit for the times." 



Middle Ages : Education as Disciplitie 149 

THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM OF CHIVALRY. —The edu- Seven years 
cation of a knight was divided into two distinct periods: the'page^"^ 
that of the page, which covered approximately the period from seven years 
the seventh to the fourteenth year, and that of the squire, from °^ squire 
the fourteenth to the twenty-first year approximately. Every 
feudal lord and the more prominent clerics as well, maintained 
a court that was attended by the sons and frequently by the 
daughters of the subordinate gentry of his realm. It was the 
usual custom for all ranks of chivalry, probably growing out of 
the earlier custom of taking hostages, to send their children 
from home. In some instances, though very rarely, schools were 
established. For the most part the training was given through 
a definitely organized household or court service. 

The page began with simple service about the castle, especially Services 
in attendance upon the ladies. As he grew older he waited upon ^^"^^ a"^"^^*^ 
the table. This duty he continued to perform as a squire; and squire 
and in addition to these, he was called upon for a great variety 
of personal services to his lord. All culminated in the oflice of 
"squire of the body," who was the immediate personal attend- 
ant upon the lord in battle and in tournament. 

The page and the squire were supposed to learn " the rudi- Meaning of 
ments of love, of war and of religion." The " rudiments merus^f 
of love " were courtesy, kindliness, gentleness, pleasant de- war, love 
meanor, generosity, knowledge of the very elaborate formalities ^jgion^" 
of conduct, good manners, pleasant speech and the ability 
to turn a rhyme. Love was to protect the youth from the evils 
of anger, envy, sloth, gluttony and excesses of all kinds. The 
rudiments of love were to be acquired through service to 
the ladies and through the teachings of the minstrels. It often 
happened that to these accomplishments the squire added the 
abiHty to play the harp and to sing. In particular he was ex- 
pected to devote himself to the service and the amusement of 
the ladies of the court. He participated in their hunting and 
hawking expeditions, in the entertainment of the court, perhaps 
by the reading of chivalric literature and by the game of chess. 



150 Brief Course in the History of Education 

The justing in the tournament was the chief preparation for 
war; in time it became a substitute. For this the youth was 
trained from his earliest years in the abihty to ride, to handle 
the shield, to wield the sword, to tilt with the lance, to cast the 

Their miii- javelin, to exercise in armor, — in fact, in every martial exercise. 

tary training lilting at a revolving target, either in boats or on horseback, 
was much practiced. Hunting and hawking not only formed 
the chief amusements of the nobility, but also furnished training 
for warfare as well. This training in the rudiments of war 
developed an ability to withstand all hardships of life in the 
open air, an indifference to pain, an ability to withstand hunger 
and fatigue. 

As the period for knighting drew nigh, the religious aspects 
of chivalry were emphasized. The prospective knight must go 
through ceremonies of purification; his sword was blessed by 
a priest, and in the initiation, frequently if not usually held in 
a church, he swore " to defend the Church, to attack the wicked, 
to respect the priesthood, to protect women and the poor, to 
preserve the country in tranquillity, and to shed his blood in 
behalf of his brethren." 

In all of this training there was little of the intellectual. In 
the earlier centuries of chivalry it was an effeminacy to know how 
to write ; but in the later centuries the knowledge of reading and 
writing among both men and women of the upper classes was 
quite common. Knowledge of the French language — the 
language of chivalry — was quite necessary. Except for this 
and for the song and music of the minstrels, there was no literary 
element in this type of education. 



§ 7. EDUCATION AT THE CLOSE OF THE MIDDLE AGES 

THE RENAISSANCE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. — 

From the previous consideration of scholasticism and the 
universities, it will be seen that the later Middle Ages were far 
from being " dark ages," that the intellectual interests of 



r^ ABPITOMAOMMS PHYLOSOf^FAE* ALff/ 
, AS MARGARITA PHYLOSOPHICA TRACTANS 
3comni genere fa1>ili;Cdmaddiaotiibus:Qu^fnaIijsnotihabcntur. 




Thk Title Page of a Fifteenth Century ENCvcLorrDi a or Text Book 

le title reads : Epitome of all Philosophy, otherwise The Philosophical Pearl, treating of all Ktiotvn 
iiugs ; with Additions, such as are not to be found elseivhere. In the lower foreground, within 
: circle, are the muses of the seven liberal arts : above is the three-headed muse of philosophy. Natural 
ilosophy IS represented in the lower left by Aristotle, moral philosophy in the lower right by Seneca, 
:ional philosophy above the circle by the Church Fathers, Augustine, Gregory, Jerome and Ambrose! 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 1 5 1 

these centuries were numerous and intense, and that the edu- 
cational activities were great. A further consideration of edu- 
cation during this period is necessary in order to understand 
more adequately the education of the Middle Ages and also to 
understand that transition to modem intellectual hfe which is 
called the Renaissance. The latter fifteenth and the early 
sixteenth centuries are usually considered to mark the intellectual 
transition from mediaeval to modern times. But as will be in- 
dicated in the next chapter this transition, educationally, related 
chiefly to the spirit and the content of education. A preparation 
for this transition, in fact a leading cause of it, was to be found 
in the intellectual activity and educational advance of the 
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. During these centuries 
there existed a place in the social organization for an intellectual 
life, that exerted profound influence, permitted much freedom, 
had definite character, possessed pecuHar merits, and developed 
an appropriate educational system. 

Moreover, with the thirteenth century, the intellectual interests Educational 
and control passed from the monasteries to the schools. While igrtuai^" 
nominally ecclesiastical, the spirit of the schools was chiefly changes 
secular. The leadership passed from Churchmen to doctors, thirteenth 
who were preeminently logicians and hence inclined to ration- century 
alism. Intellectual interests which began by being wholly 
religious or theological in character ended by being almost 
wholly philosophical and logical. The dominant conception 
of education remained the disciplinary one. The function of 
schooling was to develop ability to state, to interpret, to define, 
to argue, concerning abstract conceptions. In respect to its 
outcome, however deep or intense its influence might be, this 
education was peculiarly narrow. Yet on the other hand, intel- 
lectual interests received general recognition. Schools of all 
grades became abundant. The science of the ancients within 
this hmited field became well known. The educational world 
needed only the development of the new spirit, which came with 
the fifteenth and the sixteenth century, to become modern. 



152 Brief Course m the History of Education 

A leading characteristic of the Middle Ages was its unity. 
There was an internal unity possessed by the intellectual life 
itself. There was an external unity of the intellectual hfe in 
connection with the religious, the ecclesiastical, the artistic, 
the poHtical, the economical and the social aspects of life. This 
unity was found in the dominant religious thought. The thir- 
teenth century possessed a unity of life and of ideas beyond any 
other century in history. It was the last century in which this pe- 
cuhar unified life of the Middle Ages dominated. Realism was 
the philosophy, not only of its religion, but also of its life. This 
unifying element was embodied in the dominance of the ideal 
— of ideals as these express some form of authority. The 
Church expressed the absolute authority of the religious life. 
The scholastic theology expressed the same absolutism in reli- 
gious belief. The Holy Roman Empire embodied this ideal 
politically, the feudal system socially, the guild system eco- 
nomically. So also in education, the universities on the institu- 
tional side and scholasticism on the intellectual side expressed 
the dominance of the same absolutism of authority. 

As long as there was a widespread and general attempt to 
preserve this unity of life, — that is, during the fourteenth and 
fifteenth centuries, — the spirit of the Middle Ages persisted. 
Nevertheless, there were continual eruptions of individualism 
and attempts to overthrow this absolutism, so that during these 
centuries the perfection and beauty of the system as seen in the 
thirteenth century no longer prevailed. 

In the attempt to suppress these expressions of individuahty, 
the harshness as well as the defects of absolutism, its growing 
formalism, and its final lifelessness became apparent. It was 
not until the later fifteenth century that this effort to supplant 
the dominance of authority by the general sway of individual 
judgment took place in what is known, par excellence, as the 
Renaissance. Critical and destructive tendencies then came 
to dominate. 

The chief means for the expression of new and consequently 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 153 



somewhat heterodox interests was through the new vernacular 
hteratures. With most of the Teutonic peoples, and the Celtic 
as well, there is a rudimentary hterature in the vernacular 
covering the entire Middle Ages. With the twelfth century, 
fostered by chivalry and by the Crusade movement with ac- 
companying motives, there was developed in court and palace, 
by bard and minstrel, a wholly new literature. This hterature, 
technically called the Middle English, the Middle German, etc., 
was an outgrowth similar to that of the troubadours of southern 
and the trouveres of northern France. The amorous tale, 
knightly adventure, daring just or brilliant tournament, ex- 
pressed alike the interest of the court and the laity's dislike 
and suspicion of motive and conduct of monk and priest. In 
its expression of new interests and use of new forms, this 
hterature formed the beginning of modern literature,"and at 
the same time was a force making for the overthrow of the 
dominance of authority and a channel for the expression of 
heretical views. 

Meanwhile there are a few aspects of education during these 
last mediaeval centuries, besides the universities, that demand 
brief notice. 

THE FRIARS OR THE MENDICANT ORDERS came into 
general control of higher education by the middle of the thir- 
teenth century. The Franciscans, or Gray Friars, were founded 
in 12 12 and the Dominicans, or Black Friars, in 12 16. The aim 
of the mendicants, differing from that of the earher orders, was 
to save souls, to control people and to build up the Church. 
Consequently, they sought to control education. 

The Dominicans, or preaching friars, especially sought to 
control leaders of thought and of the Church, and hence to 
establish themselves at the universities. They soon had a con- 
vent in every university town. Aiming first to " capture " 
bachelor or master, they soon sought to control the teaching. 
The dominance of Thomas Aquinas indicates a success of this 
ambition in regard to theology, at least. The fact that these 



The ver- 
nacular lan- 
guages and 
literatures a 
chief means 
of expressing 
individual 
interests 



The Fran- 
ciscans 
(1212) and 
the Domin- 
icans (12 1 6) 



became posi- 
tive educa- 
tional 
factors 



154 Brief Course in the History of Education 

bodies were preeminently preaching orders, as previous orders 
had not been, called for a higher degree of intelligence and for 
more definite training. Hence these friars became educators 
in a double sense; first, in that they gave a more general edu- 
cation to all their members than any previous monastic order; 
second, in that, as preachers, they were teachers of the people 
and preeminently preachers of doctrine. 

INFLUENCE OF SARACEN LEARNING. —The study of 
Grecian philosophy, on account of its heretical influences, had 
been suppressed in the Eastern Church by the sixth century 
and found a home among the Syrians and especially the Nes- 
torian sect of the Christians in the region of western Asia. Here 
it came in contact with the Arabs and, with the Abbasid dynasty 
(f. 750 A.D.), was fostered in the capitals of the East. Learned 
Nestorians were summoned to the Saracen courts; translations 
into Arabic from the Syriac or the original Greek were made; 
mathematics and the natural sciences, more especially the medi- 
cal sciences, were fostered. During the ninth century philo- 
sophical interests were similarly developed, especially under the 
leadership of Avicenna (980-1037). At the time, when the 
Christian schools of both eastern and western Europe were fall- 
ing into decay, the schools of Bagdad, Basra, Kufa and other Sar- 
acen cities were growing into splendid activity and great renown. 

In Spain, especially, centering in the school of Cordova, 
from the tenth century on, this learning received development 
and many brilhant practical apphcations. Throughout their 
Western cahphates, the Saracens estabhshed libraries, higher 
schools similar to universities and, in connection with the 
mosques in many cities, schools for the instruction of children. 
While Christian Europe was enforcing as a religious belief the 
idea that the world was flat, the Moors were teaching geography 
from globes. When the Christians finally conquered the Mo- 
hammedans, they turned their astronomical observatories into 
belfries for want of any other use. From these Arabs came, 
in the tenth or eleventh century, the knowledge of Hindu 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 155 

notation as a substitute for the cumbersome Roman method. Scientific 
Knowledge of algebra, as well as of advanced arithmetical pro- ^""^ practical 
cesses, came from a similar source. In medicine, in surgery, in introduced 
pharmacy, in astronomy, in physiology, they added much that g^*^^ 
is now considered fundamental. They explained the refraction into Europe 
of light, gravity, capillary attraction and twilight; they de- 
termined the height of the atmosphere, the weight of air, the 
specific gravity of bodies; they constructed various astronomical 
tables, and determined corrections for parallax and for refraction ; 
they invented the pendulum clock; in commerce, in geographical 
explorations, in navigation, in improvements in all the arts of 
life, their culture was far ahead of that of the Europeans; they 
introduced the use of rice, sugar and cotton, and the cultivation 
of silk; they made Europe familiar with the use of the compass, 
of gunpowder and of cannon. Thus in many ways the Arab 
culture served as an educational agency to bring the civiliza- 
tion of the West to a higher level. 

But it is with its influence on the schools that we are more 
directly concerned. By the twelfth century all intellectual Decline of 
vitalitv had been crushed out in the East, while it was in its Saracen 

' learning and 

most flourishing condition in the West. In the middle of the its transfer 
twelfth century Raymund, archbishop of Toledo, commanded chdstians 
a Jewish scholar to translate the leading works on Arabic phi- 
losophy into Castilian; by monks it was translated thence into 
Latin. Shortly after this the Emperor Frederick II had the 
commentaries of Averroes and other Aristotelian writings trans- 
lated. Only a brief period intervened when, as a result of the 
Latin conquest of Constantinople, 1204, the Greek version of 
Aristotle became known and direct translations were made. 
By the thirteenth century rigid and narrow orthodoxy had tri- 
umphed in Saracen Spain. Aristotehanism and Averroeism 
were driven out from their previously flourishing seats to find 
a new home among the Jewish philosophers and in the Christian 
universities. 

NEW TYPES OF SCHOOLS. —The later Middle Ages were 



156 Brief Course in the Histojy of Education 

well supplied with schools. Not only secondary but elementary 
education was provided in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 
in a more general way than ever before. xA.lthough monastic 
schools never recovered their importance after the Renaissance 
of the thirteenth century, cathedral schools grew into new promi- 
nence in the early university period, and were insufficient for the 
demand. Consecjuently, several new types of schools became 
prominent. 

The most numerous of these new institutions were the chantry 
schools. A chantry foundation — the gift of property to sup- 
port a priest in return for prayers for the souls of the benefactor 
and of his family or for certain stipulated purposes — was 
the most common form of benefactions to the Church during the 
later Middle Ages. Thus it happened that foundations for 
priests existed beyond all demand for parochial service. As 
the religious services required by the foundations could occupy 
but a small portion of time, it became customary to stipulate 
that such priests should teach the children of the community. 
The regulations of these foundations present the greatest varia- 
tions. Some provide for a small number of children, some 
for all comers; some provide that instruction shall be gratis, 
some permit a fee ; some indicate that the merest rudiments were 
taught, others stipulate that instruction shall be given in grammar 
and the higher branches. 

Another type of school, more free from ecclesiastical control, 
was the guild school. It was very common for the merchant and 
craft guilds to support priests for the performance of all sorts 
of rehgious services for their members. Such a priest saw the 
children of the guild members received into the world with 
proper religious rites and saw them decently out ; he celebrated 
for them all the sacraments; frequently he kept school. Some 
guilds established schools of great repute, which have had long 
histories. The Merchant Taylors' School of London is probably 
the most notable. Ordinarily the school was only an elementary 
one, though it often was also a grammar school for the children 



Middle Ages : Education as Discipline 157 

of the guild members or for others. Such schools gave instruc- 
tion in other subjects than Latin grammar and frequently, 
even before the Renaissance, came to give instruction through 
the vernacular. 

With the coalescence of the guild organization and the early Burgher or 
municipal government, these schools, along with many of the *°^^" schools 
parish schools mentioned above, became in many communi- 
ties the burgher schools. Such schools were controlled and 
supported by secular authorities and in the content of their 
school work better represented the economic interests and de- 
mands of the citizens. They were often taught by priests, 
though lay teachers became more and more numerous. In a 
similar way private schools, usually of most elementary char- Private 
acter, even more responsive to new economic and social de- 
mands, sprang up. However irregular these private schools 
were, they yet contributed to the development of independent 
town schools. Clerical inspection was still almost universal, 
and the Church through the scholasticiis or some other episcopal 
officer, or even through the parish priest, sought to extend its 
jurisdiction over both private and guild schools. The attendance 
upon these schools under Church control included both local 
pupils and the numerous wandering students of the time. The The wan- 
custom of living by begging and of wandering from institution scholars 
to institution, fostered by monk and friar, spread from the uni- 
versity student downward until it included the so-called ABC 
shooter as well. 

Concerning this entire subject of secular schools previous to 
the Reformation, there is a question concerning the interpretation 
of historical material. Yet it is evident that preparation had 
been made before the Reformation for the secularization of 
education that was to follow. 

SUMMARY 

The dominant influence during the Middle Ages was the Christian re- 
ligion. Christianity offered a solution of the Greek social and educational 
problem in the principle of Christian love or charity, which harmonized 



158 Brief Course in the History of Education 

the individual and the social factors. This solution was found in the moral 
instead of the intellectual nature of man, and therefore furnished an ideal 
possible of attainment by all. Education became dominantly moral and 
hence a discipline or a preparatory training. The Christian Church was 
at first friendly toward the classical learning. But with the nominal in- 
clusion of the secular world within the limits of the Church, it became nec- 
essary to emphasize the moral to the exclusion of the intellectual and 
literary elements in education. Monasticism organized this moral educa- 
tion most minutely. Monasticism required some knowledge of reading and 
writing, led to the copying Q,f manuscripts, the preservation of literature, 
the writing of chronicles and a few other types of Hterature, and promoted 
the organization of schools. The later monastic orders were distinctly 
educational in purpose. With the revival of interest in theological ques- 
tions, logic and philosophy were brought to the support of religion. Scho- 
lasticism was the result. The world of knowledge was expanded and 
systematized into a unified whole. Universities sprang up in great num- 
bers and fostered the intellectual life. Meanwhile an education for secular 
society, now organized under the feudal system, had been elaborated. This 
was the chivalric education, which organized the conception of education 
as discipline into the training of page and squire as a preparation to the 
full activities of knighthood. After the close of the thirteenth century the 
new individualistic interests found expression through the vernacular 
literatures, through commerce, through the new intellectual interests, through 
the influence of the Saracens and friars, and through new types of schools. 
The tendency of all of these changes was to destroy the unity of thought and 
life so characteristic of the Middle Ages. 




TiiK Be(;ging Students of the Middle Ages. Nuremberg, Sixteenth 

Century 

On the baskets are pictures of the patron saints of the respective schools. 



Chronological Table of Educational Development from the 
Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Century 



Political 
Events and 
Personages 



Litfraky Men 
AND Scientists 



Religious 
Events and 
Personages 



Educators and 

Educational 

Writings 



Educational 
Events 



1300. 

I339-M53- One 
Hund.Yrs.'War 

Edward III of 
Eng. 1327.-1377 

1347. Rienzi. 

1347-9. Black 
Death. 

1356. Poitiers. 

1356. The Seven 
Electors estab- 
lished by charter 

135° i5°o- Hansaf 
League. 



Marco Polo 

1234-1324 
Dante . 1265-1321 
Petrarch 

.1304-1374 
Boccaccio 



Chaucer 



1313-137S 
1328 1400 



1400. 

143 1. Joan of Arc 

burned. 
1453. Fall of 

Constantinople. 
1455-1485. War 

of Roses. 
1474-1509. Ferdi- 
nand and 

Isabella of Spain 
1494. Charles VIII 

of France in 

Italy. 
1498-1515. Italian 

wars of Louis XI. 
1462-1 c;o5. Ivan 

the Great. 



Lorenzo Valla 



1369-1444 

Pico da Mirandola 

(1463-1494) and 

the Platonic 

Academy. 

Leonardo da 

Vinci 1452-1519 
Raphael 

1485-1520 



1302. Philip of 
France triumphs 
over Boniface. 

1312. Suppression 
of Templars. 

John Tauler 

1290-1361 

Wycliffe 

1324-1384 

1309.1377- Baby- 
lonian Captivity. 

1387-1417. The 
Great Schism. 

1384. Breth. Com 
Life f. 



William of Occam 
1270-1347 

Jean Gerson 

1363-1429 

Paulus Vergeriu 
1349-1420 



1414. Council of 
Constance. 

1418. Council of 
Basle. 

1415. John Huss 
burned. 

Thomas & Kempis 
1380-1472 

Savonarola 

1452-1 



Vittorino da 
Feltra 1378-1446 
Cosimo de Medici 

1389-1446 
VVessel 1420-1495 
Hegius 1420-1495 
Battista Guarino 

1434 1460 
John Reuchlin 

1455-1522 
Jacob Wimpfel 

ing 1450-1528 
1452. Pope 

Pius II., 

Df Liberorunt 

Edticatione. 
Colet 1456 1519 
Linacre 1460-1524 
Wm. Lilly 

1468-1522 



1343. U. Pisa f. 
1347. U. Prague f. 
1349. U. Florence f. 
1362. Use of Eng: 

est. in law courts. 
1365. U. Vienna'f. 
1384. School at 

Daventer founded. 

1386. U. Heidelberg 

1387. Winchester C 
1392. U. Erfurt f. 
1397-1400. Chryso- 

loras teaches Greek 
at Florence. 

1428. Vitterino 

establishes school 

at Mantua. 
1440. Eton founded. 
1455. First book 

printed. 
1458. Greek taught 

at Paris. 
1460. New learning 

at Heidelberg. 
1494. First chair of 

"Poetry" in N. 

Europe (at Erfurt). 
1496. Humanism in 

city schools of 

Nuremberg. 



1500. 

1520. Magellan 

circumnavigates 

the globe. 
1524. Peasants' 

War. 
Henry VIII 

1509-1547 
1533. Reb. of 

Geneva. 
Edward VI 

^,. , 1547-1553 
Elizabeth 

1558-1603 
1583. Spanish 
Armada. 



Erasmus 

1457-1536 
Michael Angelo 

1475-1564 
Ariosto 1474-1533 
Copernicus 

^ , „M73-i543 
Tycho-Brahe 

1 546-1601 
Shakespeare 

1564-1616 
Kepler 1571-1630 



Luther . 1483-1546 
1517. Luther's 

Theses. 
1521. Diet at 

Worms. 
1535. Suppression 

of monasteries 

in England. 
1540. Jesuit 

Order founded. 
1538. English Act 

of Supremacy. 
1545-1563. Coun- 
cil of Trent. 



Erasmus 

1467-1536 
Thomas More 

. 1478-1535 
Rabelais 

1483-1553 
Melanchthon 

1497-1560 
Trotzendorf 

1490-1556 
Vives . 1492-1540 
Sturm 1507-1 ' 
Ascham 1515-1568 
Montaigne 



Zwingli 1484-1531I 1533-1592 

Knox . 1505 1572 Peter Ramus 



Calvin . 1509-1564 
1542. Inquisition 

introduced. 
1553. Servetus 

burned. 
1555- Peace of 

Augsburg. 
1572. St. Bar- V 

tholomew's 

massacre. 
1598. Edict of 

Nantes. 



1515-1572 
Michael Neander 
1525-1595 
1571. Ascham's 
Schoolmaster; 
1531. Elyot's 
Governonr, 
first work in Eng 
on education. 
Mulcaster 

1531-1611 
Mulcaster's 
Positions 1581 



1502. University of 

Wittemberg founded. 

1510-1513. Erasmus 
teaches Greek at 
Cambridge. 

1 510. St. Paul's f. 

1519. Erfurt and 
Leipzig 
reorganized on 
humanistic basis. 

1524. First Protes- 
tant City Schools. 

1524. Luther's 
Address to 
German Cities. 

1526. Melanchthon 
opens gymnasium 
at Nuremberg. 

1528. Saxony 
School Plan. 

1537. Sturm's 
School founded. 
540. Jesuit order t 

1559. Wurtemberg 
School Plan ; first 
sys. of Pub. Sch. 

1599. Final form of 
Jesuit Ratio 
Stuciiorum. 



159 



CHAPTER VI 



THE RENAISSANCE AND HUMANISTIC EDUCATION 



WHAT THE RENAISSANCE WAS. —The classical Re- 
naissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was primarily 
an intellectual, aesthetic and social movement. As such it 
caused profound changes in every phase of educational thought 
and practice. The logically perfect systems of thought, life 
and education evolved during the Middle Ages, as the products 
of monasticism, chivalry or scholasticism, were unstable because 
of their very perfection. In their completeness they permitted 
no change, no progress. They made no provision for the indi- 
vidual. On the contrary, the essential feature of the Renaissance 
was individuahsm. The systems of thought constructed by the 
Schoolmen, and the social structures of monasticism and chiv- 
alry, were erected as palaces in which to live a perfect life. 
They proved to be but prisons. Hardly had the architects com- 
pleted the edifice than those for whom they were built overthrew 
them as symbols of their slavery. Yet from the debris of these 
edifices the few succeeding generations laid the foundation of 
modern thought and life. Thus the unity of mediaeval thought 
and life ultimately broke up into the multiple interests and 
activities characteristic of modern times. 

Though the activities of the Renaissance were most varied, 
they may be summed up in three general tendencies, repre- 
senting three great interests almost unknown during the Middle 
Ages. The first of these new worlds was the real life of 
the past. The Greeks and Romans had possessed more varied 
interests and consequently a wider knowledge of life and of its 
possibilities than had the people of the Middle Ages. The classic 

1 60 



Renaissance and Humanistic Education i6i 

ages had expressed this interest by means of a literature and an 
art incomparably superior to any produced during the interven- 
ing centuries, which had been indifferent to them. The second 
of these worlds was the subjective world of emotions, — of the (2) the sub- 
joy of living, of the contemplative pleasures and satisfactions of'^gmotions 
of this hfe, and of the appreciation of the beautiful. The 
interest in introspective observation and analysis was now 
from the aesthetic and human point of view rather than from 
the philosophical and rehgious. The means of entrance to 
such a world as this is through the fullest participation in the 
activities and interests of the hfe around one. The purpose 
of such a hfe is self-culture and improvement. The outcome 
of it is literature and art. Of this world mediaeval thought had (3) the nat- 
been wholly ignorant. The third of these worlds was that of ^^^ ^'^^ 
physical nature. This realm was not only unknown to the 
people of the mediaeval centuries, but any study of it had been 
considered ignoble and debasing in its influence on man. 

The first of these great world discoveries led to a wider and These new 
more intensive study of the Latin and Greek languages, and to a ^^^ ^^^V ^^ 
devotion to the classic hterature of both languages. Then fol- classical 
lowed a search for the manuscript remains of this literature until 
substantially all that we possess to-day had been brought to light. 
The passion for the collection of these manuscripts led to their 
multiplication, and finally through the discovery of printing to 
their general dissemination. The mistake should not be made, 
however, of confusing the means of this Renaissance with its 
cause or with its end. The recovery of the classical literature was 
not the cause, for that lies far deeper and more remote in the 
whole movement of history and of thought. Not even in the case 
of the few notable leaders, such as Petrarch, who were possessed 
by a consuming passion for the recovery of the works of the 
ancients, was this the dominant purpose. These books were 
merely means to that advancement in knowledge and that 
breadth of view and of experience which made these men the 
earlier leaders of this movement. 



literatures, 



1 62 Brief Course in the History of Education 

Through the study of these Hteratures, a new interest in all 
which appeals to the imagination and to the heart was created. 
While the appreciation of the beautiful and the emotional in 
literary form was the most general, yet aesthetic appreciation 
and artistic endeavor in every form became more prevalent than 
at any other period in history. 

Introspective analysis of the emotional life led to the pro- 
duction of art and literature, including poetry, the drama 
and romance ; to an interest in new motives as revealed in history 
and in contemporary life; and consequently to the formulation 
of the historical and social sciences. While at first this develop- 
ment seemed to be through the exclusion of the previously ab- 
sorbing religious interest, yet during the sixteenth century 
thought life again became dominantly religious, but on a hu- 
manistic rather than on a scholastic basis. 

Finally through the beliefs and methods of the Greeks, the 
Renaissance students were led to direct observation and ex- 
perimentation with natural phenomena. These, in turn, led 
to geographical discovery and exploration both by land and by 
sea and to those astronomical discoveries that were to become 
the basis of modern scientific thought. This naturalistic aspect 
of the Renaissance led in time to a modification of all thought and 
connects directly with the work of Bacon and Descartes in the 
seventeenth century and with the physical and biological in- 
vestigations of modern science. Thus, in a very true sense, 
the educational development discussed in the three following 
chapters are but later phases of Renaissance influence. 

The transition from the old learning to the new was not an 
abrupt one; clear definition of the new spirit came about very 
gradually. Even its triumph did not involve the disappearance 
of the old spirit. Both in educational interests and in those 
wider ones involving the human intellect and the human spirit, 
old methods of thought, as well as old ideas and ideals, con- 
tinued active for many centuries. In fact, they have persisted 
even to the present day. But the dominant ideal which gave 



Renaissance and Humanistic Education 163 

character to the period soon came to be that developed by 
the new knowledge. 

THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY. — As the political, religious influence of 
and intellectual life of the times centered in Italy, so also did gides-'^^^^'^' 
the Renaissance movement. The period was the latter half 
of the fourteenth and all of the fifteenth century. The causes 
of this movement are discoverable in the influence of the uni- 
versities and in the intensity of the intellectual activity of the 
thirteenth century. The personal connecting link is found in 
Dante (1264-1321), whose spirit was partly mediaeval, partly of Dante; 
modern. 

During the later mediaeval centuries a knowledge of the Latin 
classics was not an unknown thing, for the manuscript copies 
of many of these were in existence. Virgil at least was quite 
well known. But there was little appreciation of their beauty 
as literature, little sympathy with the interests of the classical 
times, and little toleration of the study of these classics, to the 
detriment of the study of dialectic based upon Aristotle, and of 
the patristic and scholastic Hterature in general. 

Petrarch as the Representative of the New Spirit. — Against of Petrarch 
the dominant educational ideas of the times, against scholasti- 
cism and Aristotehanism, Petrarch (1304-1374) strove with all 
his might. With his genius for leadership and his power of 
stimulating enthusiasm, he created a general interest in the Significance 
classics in direct opposition to the ordinarily accepted interests "nter'e^stTn' 
of students, of institutions of learning, of the Church and of classical 
Churchmen, Petrarch was not alone in this. But he holds a 
I place in the history of education as the first great representative 
of a new type of intellectual life. To-day, when we can readily 
obtain a knowledge of the best that has been thought and done 
without going back to antiquity, it is difficult to reahze the im- 
portance of this work. At that time there was no vernacular 
literature to speak of and the human interests of the Greek 
and Latin literatures had been replaced by the narrow religious 
and ecclesiastical interests of the Middle Ages. Consequently, 



literature 



164 Brief Coiirse in the History of Education 

there is no parallel between the importance of the study of 
Latin and Greek in recent centuries and its importance during 
these centuries of the Renaissance period. 

The Work of Petrarch and his confreres possessed more 
than this negative value of protest against the restrictions of 
mediaevalism. It had also the positive merit of emphasizing 
the value of the opportunities of this life for self-development 
through varied experiences. Many such activities or sources 
of experience had been wholly forbidden by the asceticism and 
self-abnegation of the mediaeval spirit. Petrarch's writings are 
the first in modern times to reveal the human soul in the whole 
gamut of passions, sufferings and aspirations. Here is first 
found that attitude of self-analysis that becomes a characteristic 
note in modern literature and thought. As a reaction against 
the all-controlling " other worldliness " of the Middle Ages, 
one aspect of this new motive was the substitution of the idea 
of a worldly immortality. This later gave rise to that revival 
of paganism characteristic of the Italian Renaissance. 

In the narrower sense, none of Petrarch's writings are edu- 
cational. The more important of them are his Sonnets in the 
vernacular, characterized by their introspective emotionalism, 
which give them an important place in the history of modern 
literature; his Lives 0} Ancient Men, wherein both Greeks and 
Romans become alive to modern men; and his very numerous 
Letters, wherein are revealed the development and the dis- 
semination of the Renaissance spirit. It is not the content of 
these works that gives Petrarch a place in the history of edu- 
cation, but the new conception of life which they reveal and 
the new spirit and content which they give to education. This 
characteristic of Petrarch has a general significance also. As in 
its beginning so throughout its course, the Renaissance in Italy 
remained dominantly personal and individual. It did not 
seek to reform the morals of the times or to remove the formalism 
of the religious life and the narrowness of the political and 
institutional life. 



Renaissance and Humanistic Education 165 

Co-laborers of Petrarch. — Among the chief of these were Various edu- 

Boccaccio (1313-1375), especially notable in literature, and ^^tionai 

Barzizza (1370-1431), especially notable for scholarship, the work of 

These, with Petrarch, led in the movement for the revival of '^^V'^Iu^ 

' ' _ and of riis co- 

classical Latin, for the recovery of the classical text, for the laborers 
multiplication of these manuscripts, and for the founding of 
libraries. In one remaining aspect of the educational Renais- 
sance — the recovery of the Greek language — Petrarch had 
little part. In Hebrew the Italians had no interest, but to them 
was due the restoration of Greek. Even among the Byzantine 
Greeks of the East, a knowledge of the classical Greek was a 
rare thing. While many travelers and some students had come 
in contact with the contemporary Greeks and a few of the 
Byzantians in Italy professed to teach Greek, the first real 
teacher of the classical Greek in the Western world was Manuel 
Chrysoloras (d. 141 5). From 1397 to 1400 Chrysoloras lectured 
at the University of Florence and later at other cities of Italy. 
Many flocked to his tuition; other Greek teachers followed 
his example; Greek manuscripts were brought over in great 
numbers; Greek grammars were written for Latin students. 
Shortly there was given to the Western world a new language 
and a whole literature, of infinitely greater wealth than that 
possessed, whether of classical Latin, of patristic and mediaeval 
Latin, or of the vernacular. 

By the time the Renaissance movement had reached its Recovery of 
zenith in Italy and had begun to pass north of the Alps, the ilJeratm-e'^ 
classical Latin and Greek languages had been recovered. 
The largest part of the literature of these languages that we now 
possess had been brought to light, libraries had been founded 
and the new spirit as well as the new knowledge had been firmly 
established. 

MODIFIED CHARACTER OF THE RENAISSANCE IN Center of the 
NORTH EUROPE. —The later Renaissance period, that of the i^terRenais- 

^ ' sance in 

latter half of the fifteenth century and the greater part of the north 
sixteenth, was modified in two respects, (i) By this time the ^""^^p^ 



1 66 Brief Course in the History of Education 



movement had run its course in Italy and had begun to decline 
into a formahsm httle superior to the old. (2) The movement 
shifted north of the Alps and, though first welcomed by the 
French, received its greatest development among the Teutonic 
peoples. 

In the South the new learning tended to lose its wide interest 
in nature and in life and the intensity of its belief in personal 
development. It tended to concentrate into merely formal study 
of literature, until on the educational side it degenerated into 
that type known as " Ciceronianism." With the northern 
peoples culture and aesthetic appreciation as a means of personal 
development were not emphasized to the extent to which they 
were among the Italians, In the North there was not the broad 
interest in Hfe, in its possibilities and in its opportunities for per- 
sonal development; in its pleasures and its legitimate interests 
aside from the rehgious and social. Moreover there was httle or 
none of that interest in the investigation of nature and of hfe in 
the past that so characterized the earlier period. Erasmus, who 
represents the later movement as Petrarch did the earlier, had 
none of these. Since the archaeological, aesthetic, philosophical 
interests of the early movement were for the most part expres- 
sions of self-culture as well as means of personal development, 
there was comparatively slight attention to them. 

While in the North the movement was a narrower one so far 
as it related to personal development, it was infinitely broader in 
another respect, — in that it resulted in social reform and im- 
provement. In the South the movement was aristocratic. 
In the North, until late in the sixteenth century, it was demo- 
cratic. All of the early leaders were social or religious reformers. 
With them the Renaissance movement fused with the Refor- 
mation movement. With Erasmus the interests that deter- 
mined his career in life, the side chosen in every controversy, 
the selection of classics to be edited or translated, were all 
determined by one aim. This was to remove the common 
;' ignorance which was the root of the gross evils of Church and 



Renaissance and Huma^iistic Education 167 

State. He ever sought to condemn the selfishness, greed and 
hypocrisy of all who used the cloak of their office, whether in 
government, in university, in monastery or in Church, to prey 
upon the ignorance and superstition of those committed to 
their care. 

THE EDUCATIONAL MEANING OF THE RENAISSANCE. Revival of 
(a) The Revival of the Idea of the Liberal Education. — Not ^j/*^^'^^' 

^ ' literature 

only did devotion to the study of the classical literatures become primarily a 
the chief outward manifestation of the Renaissance spirit, ™Qend^°* 
but these literatures also furnished the chief means for develop- 
ing the new life. The new aspirations for the development of 
free moral personality, defined on both the intellectual and the 
emotional sides, found httle basis in the immediate past and 
little encouragement in the immediate present. But the life 
of the ancients as portrayed in their literature furnished both 
incentive and definite suggestion for imitation. The Renais- 
sance was not a direct attempt to reestabhsh the ideas and 
the life of the ancients, but in many respects it became such an 
imitation. This was because the formulation of certain aspects 
of hfe by the ancients could not be improved upon. Some as- 
pects, however, could not well be modified to conform to the 
needs of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries by men of such 
meager experience and outlook as were the students of that age. 
A most important phase of this revival was the restoration of a means to 
the idea of the liberal education as formulated by the Greeks and * ^^ liberal 

-' education of 

adapted to the Romans by Cicero, Quintihan, Tacitus, and the ancients 
others. Educationally, the Renaissance seems often to have 
been merely a devotion to the study of the literary classics and 
to the linguistic drill necessary as a preparation. But this 
is not the heart of the matter, at least during the earlier period. 
The great desire was for a new life and, in this respect, for 
a new education hostile to the old, pedantic scheme of scholas- 
ticism. This ideal revealed itself in the liberal education as 
formulated by the ancients. 

Both the earlier and the later Renaissance periods were quite 



1 68 Brief Course in the History of Educatio7i 



Renaissance 
educational 
treatises bor- 
row idea of 
the liberal 
education 
from the 
ancients 



Definition 
of liberal 
studies by 
Vergerius 



Most edu- 
cational 
treatises de- 
voted to 
discussion 
of new liter- 
ary content 
of education 
and of appro- 
priate 
methods 
of study 



prolific in treatises on education. Those of the earlier period 
not only revived the liberal idea, but even defined education 
in the same terms as those used by Plato, by Aristotle or by 
Quintihan. The aim of education was always conceived as 
that of producing the perfect man fitted for participation in the 
activities of the dominant social institutions. The ideal, while 
individualistic, was as clearly distinguished from the narrow 
practical aim of individual success as a citizen and from the 
other extreme of a life of isolation spent in mere contemplation 
of the good, as it was from the prevailing formal disciplinary 
education of the scholastics. The educated men of the past 
who were held up as ideals were Demosthenes, Aristotle, Caesar, 
Phny and, above all, Cicero. 

Formulation oj the Aim. — Some of the formulations of the 
purpose of education by these early educators are of great 
interest and value. Paulus Vergerius (1349-1420), a pro- 
fessor in the University of Padua, wrote a treatise on education 
about 1374 which was widely influential and even widely used 
as a text in schools. In this he formulated the conception of 
education as follows: " We call those studies liberal which are 
worthy of a free man; those studies by which we attain and 
practice virtue and wisdom; that education which calls forth, 
trains and develops those highest gifts of body and of mind, 
which ennoble men and which are rightly judged to rank next 
in dignity to virtue only." To distinguish it from a purely 
practical education, which, owing to the revived economic 
interests of the times, was competing with the liberal idea in the 
struggle with the dominant scholasticism, he adds: " For to the 
vulgar temper, gain and pleasure are the one aim of existence; 
to a lofty nature, moral worth and fame." The major part of 
all of these numerous treatises on education is naturally devoted 
to a discussion of the subject-matter and the method of edu- 
cation, since it was in these respects that the new education 
presented a visible contrast with the old. It has been noticed 
that while Plato defined the aim of education in terms of knowl- 



Renaissance and Htimanistic Education 169 

edge and Cicero in terms of eloquence, — meaning knowledge 
both of the content and of the form of literature, — much more 
was indicated by these terms than they now connote. Knowl- 
edge and eloquence would now indicate the receptive or even 
the formal side of education; they then included the expression 
side as well. During the early Renaissance' period this ex- 
pression side was even wider than that indicated by efficiency in 
writing or speaking. At that time these powers stood for that 
effective participation in the affairs of the times which is now 
represented by the differentiated activities of all of our learned 
professions and by the public press. 

The New Elements in Education. — One very important 
aspect of the Renaissance education was the inclusion in the 
ideal and practice of education of elements common in the 
classical period, but, with the exception of chivalry, excluded from 
the mediaeval. The first of these is the physical element. Ac- Emphasis 
companying this emphasis upon the physical element was a "ai element- 
similar one upon matters of conduct and behavior. In these 
respects the early Renaissance education represented a fusion 
of the chivalric and the literary education with a result much 
superior to that which was obtained in the preceding or in suc- 
ceeding ages. These, along with the idea that hterary training on the eie- 
should not be of that contemplative character which would lead practical 
to lack of interest and want of power in practical hfe, are as- efficiency; 
pects of their thought of education as a training in effective 
citizenship. However literary the new education might be, the 
production of practical judgment in everyday affairs was one of 
its chief purposes. Hence the moral element received a new 
emphasis, different from that of the mediaeval spirit, where the 
moral was limited to the religious and theological element. 

One further element characteristic of the new education was on the 
the aesthetic. Wholly ehminated from the mediaeval education, Jg^f^t 
owing to the dominance of ascetic ideas, the aesthetic was re- 
introduced as the very breath of hfe of the new movement. It 
became the most characteristic feature of the change from the 



1 70 Brief Course ifi the History of Edtication 



The hv^ 
maniiies 
restricted in 
meaning 



to the lan- 
guages and 
literature of 
the ancients 



The hu- 
manistic 
education 
one of lan- 
guages and 
literature 
only 



old to the new. It found its chief expression in the study of 
hterature and became a dominant feature of the work of the 
schools under the titles of grammar and rhetoric. This em- 
phasis on the importance of expression related not only to 
language but also to conduct and behavior. 

(6) The Narrow Humanistic Education, — The content of 
this new education, consisting primarily of the languages and 
classical literatures of the Greeks and Romans, came to be 
indicated during this period by the term humanities. Battista 
Guarino, summing up his treatise (1459) on this new education, 
writes as follows: " Learning and training in Virtue are peculiar 
to man; therefore our forefathers called them ' Humanitas,' the 
pursuits, the activities, proper to mankind. And no branch of 
knowledge embraces so wide a range of subjects as that learning 
which I have now attempted to describe." This passage hints 
at the change which soon came to pass with tremendous results 
for education. The interest in the hberal education described 
in the last section was in " the pursuits, the activities, proper to 
mankind," and the literature of the Greeks and Romans was 
merely a means to an understanding of such activities. Soon, 
however, — that is, by the sixteenth century, — that which 
was at first merely a means came to be considered as an end in 
itself. The term humanities came to indicate the languages and 
hterature of the ancients. Consequently, the aim of education 
was thought of in terms of language and literature instead of in 
terms of life; and educational effort was directed toward the 
mastery of this literature. That portion of these literatures 
which was superior from the formal standpoint became the 
center of educational effort. Consequently, the formal instead of 
the content or literary side of these writings was considered to be 
of the greater importance. This change, though a gradual one, 
resulted in the formulation of a type of education distinct from 
and inferior to the liberal education out of which it grew. This 
newer conception was far more widely accepted and has per- 
sisted well into modern times. As in popular usage the term 



Renaissance and Humanistic Education 171 

humanities was narrowed to indicate merely the languages and 
literatures of the two peoples, so the term humanistic was nar- 
rowed to indicate the type of education corresponding to it. 
Though not quite exact, since the term contains the original 
broader significance as well, we are forced to adopt, as following 
popular practice, the term humanistic education to indicate the 
narrow linguistic education that dominated European schools 
from the sixteenth to the middle nineteenth century. 

Elimination of Elements from the Conception of Education. — Eiimina- 
At its best the narrow humanistic education gave little place to p^ys^cai^^ 
the physical and to the social or institutional elements. It element; of 
had httle thought of broad preparation for social activity through * ^ ^°^'^ ' 
famiharity with the life of the ancients. It gave no place to the 
study of nature or of society (history) and, at first, little even 
to mathematics. The individuahsm of this education was not ofthesd- 
so much a training in the exercise of personal judgment and of ^^^^^'^ 
personal taste and discrimination, as it was a preparation for 
a career which would be successful in the formal life of the times 
from the purely personal point of view. This end was gained 
through an education so formal and stereotyped that in time it 
eliminated most of the choicer results of the early humanistic 
education. The only phase of the aesthetic element preserved The aesthetic 
was the study of rhetoric. Education again became reduced to }|™J*^^^ ^° 
the work of the school and that work became of the most appreciation 
formal character, relating solely to the study of language and 
literature. Since the child began with the study of a synthetic 
language through the mastery of grammatical constructions, and 
since few children have much power of literary appreciation, the 
work of schooling must be prolonged for years in its attention to 
the structural side of language only. Even literary appreciation This possible 
could not be a general attainment. Hence for the rank and file °^ attam- 

" ment by few 

of children, educational work became a drill of the most formal 
and laborious character. In the universities the same tendencies 
prevailed that controlled in the lower schools. By the seven- 
teenth century the study of the humanities was almost as formal 



172 Brief Course in the History of Education 



and profitless as had been the narrow routine of scholastic 
discussion of the fourteenth. Cicero now had become master in 
place of the dethroned Aristotle. 

Ciceronianism. — This humanistic education at its worst be- 
came almost inconceivably narrow and boldly asserted itself, even 
as early as the first half of the sixteenth century, under the name 
of Ciceronianism. The Ciceronians, arguing that the aim of 
education was to impart a perfect Latin style and that Cicero 
was the admitted master of that style, held that all work in the 
school should be confined to the study of the writings of Cicero 
or his imitators and that all conversation and all writing should 
be in Ciceronian phrase. In the words of the Ciceronian 
controversialist, " they would discard all subjects that do not 
admit of being discussed in Cicero's recorded words." Against 
these views, as represented by numerous Itahan and French 
humanists, Erasmus carried on a long controversy and wrote 
his dialogue on The Ciceronians. In this satire the Ciceronian 
describes his ideal education. For seven years the child is to 
read Cicero and not a single other author, until he has practically 
committed to memory the whole of the master's writing and 
has acquired a Ciceronian vocabulary. In order to accomplish 
this, huge lexicons of words are arranged ; others of phrases ; 
others of the forms of introductions and of terminations of 
periods; others of comparative tables of the various uses of 
words. Letters, declamations, conversations, orations, are 
composed with infinite pains, in the effort to make a living 
language of that which even at the time of its creation was no 
more the spoken language than was that of Shakespeare during 
the sixteenth century or that of Browning in the nineteenth. 
Ciceronianism was an extreme. But substituting the clas- 
sical writers in general for Cicero, their master, the whole tenor, 
purpose and method of the schools of the sixteenth, seventeenth 
and eighteenth centuries were but little broader than the spirit 
of the Ciceronians. 

Character 0} the Narrow Humanistic Education. — In the 



Renaissance and Humanistic Education 173 

narrow humanistic education a familiarity with the classical a writing . 
literature, or with that portion of it superior from a rhetorical f^g knowi- \ 
point of view, and a writing and speaking knowledge of Latin edge of 
constituted the sole aim of education. The content of educa- sole aim in 
tion and the subject-matter of school work became a prolonged education 
drill in Latin grammar; a detailed grammatical and rhetorical 
study of selected Latin texts, especially of Cicero, Ovid, Terence, 
with less attention to Virgil and some of the historians; with some 
study of portions of the Scriptures, of catechisms and creeds in 
Latin or of the Epistles in Greek. This command of Latin was 
perfected through frequent exercise in declamation and the pres- 
entation of the comedies of Plautus and Terence. This was 
supplemented by some attention to Greek and possibly to 
elementary mathematics and, as a final accomplishment, a 
training in oratory. Oratory meant a speaking knowledge of 
Latin as nearly classical or Ciceronian as possible. Methods 
followed the most formal grammatical hnes, with no apprecia- 
tion of the child's nature. He was considered to be a miniature 
man whose interests and powers of mind differed from those of 
the adult only in degree, not in kind. Consequently, the child on 
coming to school was given the task of acquiring a foreign 
language, usually before he had acquired the ability to read or 
write his own. He must acquire this through a formal study of 
grammar and of rhetoric, and, for the most part, until late in the 
seventeenth century, must get this formal knowledge through 
text-books written in the same foreign tongue. There resulted 
a tremendous emphasis upon the memorizing powers and upon 
the power to discriminate forms. All this produced a dialectic 
abihty little inferior in subtlety and " hair-spHtting " acumen to 
that of the Schoolmen. The disciplinary spirit of such an 
education was of the harshest, because of the most formal, and harsh 
character. Corporal punishment furnished the incentive to study ^'sciphne 
as well as to moral conduct — not a very secure basis for either. 
This education, formal in its spirit as in its subject-matter, 
accompanied the return to the emphasis upon the formal in 



174 Brief Course in the History of Education 

life. This is seen in the intellectual, the political, the religious 
and the moral life of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 
(See Ch. X.) 
Educational SOME RENAISSANCE EDUCATORS. —The great educa- 
leaders in the ^^^.g q£ ^^ Renaissance movement were not necessarily teachers, 
though many of them were. Leadership in education was 
quite as frequently exerted by general treatises on the new 
learning or even by stimulation of appreciation for literature. 
It was thus quite outside the pale of university or school that the 
early Italian leaders wrought. In any educational sketch of the 
Renaissance, some of the more prominent of those who reduced 
the new learning to the methods and the purposes of the schools 
must lind recognition. 

In Italy the advanced position occupied by Petrarch, Boc- 
caccio, Barzizza^yerggriu&-and other humanists has been noticed 
previously. Many of these early humanists, whether attached 
to courts or to universities, possessed but a meager income. 
Consequently, it was their custom to supplement this by receiv- 
ing private students into their homes. Through such work, 
rather than through university lectures, these men reduced the 
new learning to definite educational procedure and exercised 
their greatest influence on their times and on education. Both 
Barzizza and Chrysoloras, leaders respectively in the Latin and 
the Greek revival, conformed to this custom, and Guarino of 
Verona was one of the most successful and most famous. A 
somewhat more detailed statement of the work of one of these 
must answer for that of all. 

Vittorino da^Feltj:a (1378-1446) has been considered as the 
most famous of all these Italian educators, both by his own and 
succeeding generations. Since none of his writings have sur- 
vived, his reputation depends on the influence of his pupils and 
the traditions of his school. Vittorino was a product of the 
earlier generation of humanists, and had been associated with the 
three scholars just mentioned. He taught privately at Padua 
and Venice and publicly at the University of Padua before 



Renaissance and Humanistic Education 175 

organizing the school which was to be the means of his great 
influence. In 1428 he was called to establish such a school by 
the Prince of Mantua, who wished to have the dignity of a school 
of the new learning at his court to rival those of the neigh- 
boring courts. Here he continued until his death. This 
institution represented the first thorough organization of the new 
learning for school purposes as distinct from university lectures. 
The master here gave to the Greek idea of a liberal education 
its first modern embodiment, and taught for the first time the 
literature, history and civilization of the Romans instead of the 
mere form of their language. Later ages have given Vittorino 
the title of " the first modern schoolmaster." In time, he 
associated children of his friends and of the neighboring nobility 
with the children of the court, until the school occupied an 
entire palace. His aim was to make the life of the pupils as 
pleasant and active as possible, so that the schoolhouse was made, 
as it was termed, "The Pleasant House." Sport and games were "interest" 
joined with study, aesthetic appreciation was cultivated, and, ^'^ education 
above all, moral and Christian influences were strongly em- 
phasized. While the curriculum still retained the organization 
of the seven liberal arts, literature dominated, and dialectic and 
grammar were wholly subordinated. The new purpose repre- 
sented a change even more radical. Education now became a 
direct preparation for a useful and balanced life in leadership in 
State or Church, for a citizenship based upon knowledge of and Moral and 
sympathy for the best in the life of the Greeks and Romans, p.'"^^^'*^^ 
Self-government by the boys of the school, a dependence upon 
the natural interests of the pupil, use of the natural activities 
of the child as a basis for much of the work, and a strong em- 
phasis upon activity and upon the constructive side of the work as 
furnishing an immediate introduction into a useful life, were 
some of the features exempHfied in this school at Mantua. 

Early German Humanists. — Among the early German Leaders of 
humanists, John Wessel (1420-1489), Rudolph Agricola Ren^ga'^fce 
(1443-1485), Alexander Hegius (1420-1495), John Reuchlin 



1 76 Brief Course i7i the History of Education 

(1455-1522), and Jacob Wimpfeling (1450-1528) possess the 
greatest reputation as educators. Their educational importance 
consists rather in what they did for the introduction of the new 
studies and the new spirit among German students, than for any 
formulation of educational doctrine or for any work in the 
organization of schools. 

Erasmus. — The most famous of all leaders of the new learning 
was Desiderius Erasmus (Gerardus Gerardi). Erasmus's long 
Hfe (146 7- 1 536) was wholly devoted to the furthering of the new 
learning as the most important factor in the much-needed moral, 
religious, educational and social reform of the time. ^ As a 
scholar he probably does not take rank with some others of the 
critical phase of the Renaissance; but he was the most effective 
humanist and educator of all these centuries. " Of all scholars 
who have popularized scholarly literature, Erasmus was the 
most brilliant, the man whose aim was the loftiest, and who pro- 
duced the most lasting effect over the widest area," is the judg- 
ment of Professor Jebb. It was in this broader sense that 
Erasmus was an educational leader. All his work was primarily 
educational; that is, designed to reform the many abuses in 
society that were the outgrowth of ignorance. Let us see how 
this was accomplished. 

Erasmus's early education was designed to fit him for the 
monastic life. But after a few years of the narrow training of 
the typical monastic school, he was put at his ninth year in the 
schools of the Brethren at Da venter. Through the influence 
especially of Hegius and Agricola, he became imbued with 
enthusiasm for the new learning. Later, in Paris, in Oxford, 
and in Italy, he perfected his knowledge of languages and of the 
literature of the ancients. Throughout his life he remained a 
most indefatigable student and often denied himself the barest 
necessities of life to obtain coveted books. During his sojourn 
at Paris and at Oxford, he was a teacher of private pupils, and he 
became the first teacher of the new learning at Cambridge. 
For many years he led the life of the itinerant scholar, at centers 



Renaissance and Humanistic Education 177 

of learning in England, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland 

and Italy. For twenty years preceding his death he resided at 

Basel, then one of the chief centers of printing. Through his (2) through 

personal correspondence and his personal intercourse with 



ence; 



Students and scholars, he did even more of the work of instruc- 
tion than through his formal connection with universities. 

But Erasmus accomplished far more as a publicist than through (3) through 
either of these activities. Few men have published more, and jnl effort' 
no man has seen his writings so widely disseminated in his own for the en- 
lifetime. All of his vast labors in this line were determined by 
his dominant educational or reform motives. He possessed 
little of the archaeological or aesthetic interests of many human- 
ists, and none of the dialectic and metaphysical interests of the 
scholar of the old time. Against both of these he wrote, chiefly 
in the form of satire. This satire enters into many of his works, this partly 
such as The Praise of Folly, The Colloquies, The Adages, and ^'^•^?"^" 
many of his briefer dialogues, such as the one on The Ciceronians through his 
previously referred to. The Adages is a collection of the sayings of ^^^^^^^' 
the ancients, professing to give a summary of their wisdom, but 
in reality so selected and commented upon as to serve as an 
influence reformatory of existing abuses. The Colloquies dis- 
cuss in dialogue form a general variety of topics so as to reveal 
the current abuses in Church, state, family, monastery and 
university. Thus Erasmus became a reformatory force next 
j in importance to Luther himself. His whole effort was concen- 
' trated on giving to the public a more accurate and more intimate 
acquaintance with the Scriptures. 

A fourth aspect of his educational labors is seen in his editions (4) through 
of many of the Latin and Greek classics. Here, again, he pur- ^^f^^^^ °^ 
posed to give a more accurate knowledge of this hterature and classics; 
to make such selections as would expose the formality and the 
corruption of his times. Most important of these were the 
editions of Terence, Seneca, Cicero, Suetonius and Plautus. 
A work of even greater importance for schools was performed in 
preparation of Latin and Greek granmiars and of text-books, 



178 Brief Course in the History of Education 

of which the most famous and most widely used was The 
Colloquies. 

One more source of Erasmus's influence still remains to be 
mentioned. This is his direct discussion of educational subjects. 
Such discussion is found in some of The Colloquies, in The 
Ciceronians, in his Method 0} Study, and in his Liberal Educa- 
tion of Children. His educational beliefs — there was no system 
of philosophy — were as follows. The writings of the classical 
authors, the Church Fathers, and the Scriptures contain all that 
is necessary for guidance in this life and for the reform of the 
many existing abuses; but it is necessary to know these in the 
original and in their uncorrupted form. Consequently, the 
great work of the schools is to study a wide selection of these 
and to thoroughly imbibe their spirit. No mere mastery of form 
is sufficient, nor is a limited selection of authors to be allowed. 
In place of dialectic distinctions or obscurities, rhetorical analy- 
sis and appreciation are to be emphasized. Grammar necessarily 
forms the basis of all school work, but grammar as an intelligent 
approach to literature. Nature, history and contemporary life 
are to illumine this literary study, as it in turn is to reform so- 
ciety. Such knowledge should be disseminated broadly and 
should be free to women as well as to men. The moral purpose 
in education should ever be emphasized, and a study of religious 
literature and participation in religious services should form 
a part of all training. In a similar way, conduct, behavior 
and the amenities of life receive due appreciation. The spirit 
is that of the best of the Italian Renaissance. The barbarous 
methods of discipline of the times are condemned, and more at- 
tractive methods are commended. A study of the child is 
advised, and personal care and direction of his studies is insisted 
upon. The function of the mother, the importance of play and of 
exercise, the necessity of keeping education vitally in touch with 
the life of the times, are all recognized. Many details of sound 
method, such as repetition, procedure through the mastery of 
small portions of work, importance of introductory studies such 



Renaissmtce and Humanistic Education 179 

as grammar and many similar topics, find exposition in his 
writings. Above all, he combats the narrow thinkers of his own 
school who would reduce the new learning to a formalism no 
more fruitful than the old which it replaced. 

Few of the educational leaders of the sixteenth or seventeenth 
centuries, and probably none of the important schools, failed to 
reflect in some degree the educational influence of this great 
master. 

English Humanistic Educators. — England produced no great 
Renaissance leaders who achieved any wide reputation. So 
her humanistic educators are those of local or, at best, national 
influence. Special attention can be given to but one. (See 
p. 182 for others.) 

Roger Ascham (1515-1568) has achieved a reputation above Ascham.the 
all other English humanistic educators. This is due to two ''pP^t?^"^^", 

" tive English 

things : first, that he was one of the first Englishmen to write a humanist 
treatise on education in the vernacular; and, second, that he 
possessed a style that has given him a place in literature as well 
as in educational history. Ascham was a product of the early 
Renaissance revival at Cambridge and succeeded Cheke, his 
master, to the chair of Greek. Afterwards he became tutor to 
the Princess, later Queen, Elizabeth, and then her Latin secretary. His Sckooi- 
He was a man of public affairs as well as an educator, and speaks 
with the authority of such experience as well as that of a school- 
master. This authority and his royal influence gave him his 
reputation during his lifetime. His educational treatise, The 
Schoolmaster, was not published until after his death (1571). 
His conception of education, though definitely limited by the 
title of his book to schoolroom education, is that of the typical 
humanists. Its aim is defined in terms of culture and virtue. 
Moral purpose and practical efficiency are supposed to be its 
outcome; but these ends are to be gained wholly by the use of 
literature. His analysis of the subject-matter of education shows 
a wide knowledge of the classics, and his recommendations are 
similar to those of Erasmus and of Sturm, whom he closely 



master 



i8o Brief Course in the History of Education 

followed. His treatise, however, is so largely devoted to a dis- 
cussion of method that the general impression left from his 
insistence on the importance of grammar is that of the nar- 
rower humanists. All learning seems not only to be based 
on this, but to center in it. His essential idea of method was 
that of " double translation," by which one would come into 
possession of a knowledge of the content as well as of a mastery 
of form. School discipline is the only other topic treated with 
any thoroughness. Ascham opposed the brutal discipline 
characteristic of all schools and masters of his time, and argued 
for a different attitude of teacher to pupil for both moral and 
pedagogical reasons. 

TYPES OF HUMANISTIC SCHOOLS. —The educational 
triumph of the humanistic ideas was first seen in the conquest 
of existing educational institutions, primarily the universities 
and the recently founded burgher schools. Then there followed 
the multiplication of such schools more thoroughly embodying 
the new spirit than was possible in those founded under the 
aegis of the old traditions. Finally, by the establishment of new 
types of schools wholly expressive of the new spirit, the human- 
istic education became triumphant. By the time this latter stage 
was reached, the Renaissance movement had coalesced with the 
Reformation movement, and these new types of schools were 
connected with some aspect of the religious reforms. 

By the latter part of the sixteenth century, the formalism 
in the work of these institutions was no less characteristic and 
no less rigid than the formalism of the later mediaeval education, 
though different in content. These schools and this narrow 
humanistic education represented the practice and the ideal of 
education for several hundred years. It was even well into the 
nineteenth century before there was any general revolt against 
them. In the subsequent consideration of other types of educa- 
tional thought, it must be borne in mind that these latter were 
protests only, and that the normal condition was the one deter- 
mined at the period here under consideration. (See Ch. IX.) 



Renaissance and Humanistic Education i8i 

The Universities. — These general statements are especially introduction 
true of the universities. Here the old traditions long resisted f ^^^ ^^"^ 

'-' learning 

the spirit of the new learning. Though the conquest of some into the 
was complete and the new subjects in time found tolerance in "diversities 
all, the formahsm of most university work was not radically 
changed. The most important modifications were a broad- 
ening of the authority which dominated the work, the change 
in content made by the addition of literary and hnguistic sub- 
jects, especially Greek, and the substitution of classical for 
ecclesiastical Latin. It was in the Itahan universities, those of 
Pavia, Florence, Padua, Milan and Rome, that the new learning 
first found a permanent home. As a result of the influence of 
Petrarch and Boccaccio, teachers of rhetoric in the universities 
began to devote their time to the study of the classical authors. 
'The " imitation of the ancients " became a passion with many, "imitation 
and students were drawn from the dominant interests of law °^*^^ „ 

ancients 

and dialectic. This imitation led to the study of the classics in Italy; 
and from that to an attempt at reproduction, especially through 
epistolary efforts. In the case of the leading humanists this 
imitation produced a real literature; for it was not only an 
attempt to master the style of the ancients, but also to assimilate 
the content of their writings, their dominant ideas, and their 
conduct of life. During the fifteenth century the teaching of 
Greek in the universities, in the schools under the patronage of 
local lords, or in those under wholly private auspices, became 
quite common throughout Italy. By the sixteenth century 
the classical study in these universities had degenerated into 
that narrow Ciceronianism previously noted. 

As the new learning had spread through Italy chiefly through in France; 
the wandering scholars and teachers, so it passed to the univer- 
sities of the North during the later half of the fifteenth century. 
The University of Paris, where the Hieronymians had gained a 
stronghold and favored the new learning, was the storm center. 
Greek was taught here as early as 1458. The political connec- 
tion between France and Italy was especially close after 1494; 



1 82 Brief Course in the History of Education 

this aided the development in intellectual sympathy, already 
strong because of the basal Latin character of the two peoples. 
During the sixteenth century French scholars and printers were 
the leaders of the movement, both within and without the 
universities. 

After 1460 the German universities of Heidelberg, Erfurt 
and Leipzig were frequented by these wandering teachers 
of "poetry" (p. 173). The first permanent chair of the new 
learning — " Poetry and Eloquence " it was called — was 
estabhshed at Erfurt in 1494. Wittenberg, founded in 1502, 
was humanistic from the beginning. By 1520 the new learning 
was at least represented in all the German universities and 
thoroughly dominant in several of them. 

The new learning was first introduced into England at Oxford 
by a group of students who had acquired their inspiration from 
the Italian schools. The foremost of these Hellenists were 
William Grocyn and Thomas Linacre. Around these men 
Erasmus found a group of scholars gathered when he came to 
Oxford in 1498. At Cambridge it was Erasmus himself who 
introduced the new learning from 1510 to 1513. Ascham and 
Colet were Cambridge products of the early sixteenth century. 

Schools of the Court and of the Nobility. — The hostility of the 
universities and of the Church and monastic schools to the new 
learning led to the establishment of many schools embodyin^ 
the new spirit, under the patronage of the monarchs and of the 
nobility. This was especially true in many of the small Itahan 
states, where the dignity of the court was much enhanced by 
such attendants (p. 174). A great rivalry grew up among these 
states for the attachment of noted scholars or for the possession 
of famous schools. The customary migratory life of the scholars 
in their search for learning or for new honors encouraged this 
competition and assisted in the dissemination of the new learning. 
At Florence, Verona, Padua, Venice, Pavia and numerous 
Italian cities, such court circles flourished, frequently with no 
organization into schools whatever. Some of these rivaled 













O l:^: _£ — — ' ■ ■ " '-■ — — - ^ 

Catechetical Instruction in the Protestant Schools 

From a German Woodcut of the Sixteenth Century 



H 




Proteftani Tutor, 

InftradtDg Yoath ud Ochos, 

%vxt engltft t 

ALSO 

jxe6i«rihi fo tint tkc Nomlon ERR0K5, 
Dini»t>bIX>CnUt<BS, anil Cnxl MiSU- 

CRU J ii» Bv»ir TAf l^n. »bid> £n«r 

Pcfpifh SUCCESSOJ 



To wHdi b irlRi'd* 

A Timely Infb M O R I A C 

TO AL t 

TRVE PROTEST J fTS 

DaBoA/*r»rir^ t^e Cncrinrr of ■ horrid joi 
dimfllble Popirtl PLOT now nrrring r - 
fJifat-Briijln. in onicrtoDcftroy H.f Ml. , 
Kins-OEORGEiM Roy4]Fm.i,.>tioduK 



la'Blool ini Tire.' 

tIKEWISE 

Thf Mofi Grcaow! DecUndion 

TOR 

Liberty of Confcience, 

FokljiiiBlbj Order 01 ihtHING .ndCOOBCIL 



Religious Subject-matter in the Schools 

A page of illustrations from The Protestant School-Master 
(London, i68-) and the title-page of The Protestajit Tutor 
(London, 17161. 



Renaissance and Humanistic Education 183 



the universities, and some were in connection with the local 
universities, which were but appendages to the court. Many 
such schools of these early masters embodied in a less notable 
degree the same ideas as the school of Vittorino. The function 
which these schools had in the education of the children of the 
court led to an emphasis on the physical and social elements in 
education as well as on the hterary, and resulted in a fusion of 
the chivalric and humanistic ideas. 

The Fiirstenschulen, or 
schools for princes, founded 
in Germany during the early 
sixteenth century, were simi- 
lar to these court schools 
of Italy in their purpose, 
in their curriculum, in their 
complete control over the 
life of the boys, and to a 
certain extent in their spirit. 
They differed from the dom- 
inant type of German Re- 
naissance schools in a va- 
riety of respects. They were 
not controlled by municipal- 
ities as were the gymnasien, 
but were under the immediate control of the courts. They were 
boarding schools, and hence had wider supervision and more 
thorough control of the students. They aimed to train directly 
for leadership in Church and State, and drew their students 
chiefly from the famihes of the nobility. In respect to the con- 
tent of their curriculum, they represented a broader if less definite 
type than the gymnasium and to an extent paralleled the work 
of the universities. The most important of these schools, never 
very numerous, were those of Pforta, Meissen and Grimma. 

The Gymnasium is the typical humanistic school of the Teu- 
tonic countries, and has remained until the present time as the 




A Furstenschule, BY HANS BURGMAIR 
(1453-1531) 



184 Brief Course in the History of Education 

The public best type of the secondary schools of those countries. Such 
schools^ of schools were formed from the existing higher burgher schools 
Germany or Church schools by the substitution of the classical for 
the mediaeval Latin, the study of literature for the old formal 
rhetoric, of mathematics for dialectic, and by the addition of 
Greek and, in many cases, of Hebrew also. 
Transition As early as 1485 the new influences were at work in the burgher 
Church school at Nuremberg, and in 1495 " poetry " was added to the 

schools into curriculum. A few years later " poetry " and " oratory " were 
ciassicli introduced into all the higher schools of the city. In 152 1 Latin, 
state schools Greek and Hebrew were introduced into the old cathedral 
school, and five years later Melanchthon inaugurated a new 
secondary school embodying his curriculum. By this time 
many other city schools had been remodeled, and the term 
gymnasium began to be used to indicate the schools of the new 
discipline. 
Sturm's The gymnasium at Strassburg, organized in 1537 by John 

atstrassburg Sturm, and conducted by him for nearly forty years, exerted 
the greatest influence of any of these schools. The work of 
Sturm's gymnasium was divided into nine grades closely articu- 
lated, with work accurately gauged for the age and the stage of 
advancement of the pupil. The methods were carefully deter- 
mined and faithfully adhered to for years. The subject-matter 
was chosen for the most part from the Latin classics, with some 
from the Greek and from the New Testament Epistles in Greek. 
The entire work of the school was determined by its great 
purpose, — the development of the ability to speak and write 
the Latin of Cicero. Though Martial, Horace, Virgil, Ter- 
ence and Plautus were used, Cicero's writings formed the bulk 
of the curriculum. The orators and the comedians were es- 
pecially studied for the command which they gave of the spoken 
language. There was much of declamation, oratory, presenta- 
Sturm's defi- tion of plays, disputations and letter writing in the school for the 
education Same reason. Sturm defined the aim of education to be piety, 
knowledge and eloquence. By the first he meant knowledge of 




First English Piblic School; Winchester, 1387. Relationship 
WITH Monastic Schools indicated 



Renaissance and Humanistic Education 185 

catechism, creed, etc., with reverence for religion and participation 
in Church services; by knowledge he meant the Latin language 
and literature; and by eloquence the ability to use that language 
in practical life. Sturm trained many of the leaders of his time. 
His school often had more than a thousand pupils from many 
lands, many of them from the nobility. His influence was exerted influence of 
on the schools of the sixteenth century through the many expert ^^'^^^ 
teachers whom he trained, through the influence of his model 
course of study so often imitated, through his published texts 
more carefully graded than any hitherto, through his corre- 
spondence with such men as Ascham and Melanchthon, and 
through his personal advice and influence in the establishment 
of schools. The school was of the narrow humanistic type. 
No attention was given to the vernacular, and only casual men- 
tion is made of geography and mathematics. In later years 
Hebrew was introduced. This represents the gymnasium of 
the sixteenth century; and with some gradual curtailment 
of the classical element, in favor first of mathematics, then of 
modern language and history, and finally, to some slight extent, 
of the natural sciences, it represents the gymnasium from that 
time to the present. 

With the progress of the Reformation and the organization 
of state systems of schools, the gymnasien passed under the 
control of the central governments and became, as they have 
remained, the unifying core of the various German school 
systems. 

The English Public Schools represent the formulation of the The public 
same type of schools. In England such schools are on founda- classical 

•' *■ ° schools of 

tions, independent of both State and Church, furnished by England 
private benevolence or by royal endowment. It is to this char- 
acteristic that the term public refers, for tuition charges are uni- 
versal and are here quite high. Beginning with Winchester 
(1387) and Eton (1440), such schools had been founded before 
the Renaissance. But it was not until after the founding of St. 
Paul's in London (1512) that they became either numerous or 



1 86 Brief Course in the History of Education 



The " Great 
Public 
Schools " 



The Latin 
grammar 
school of 
the Ameri- 
can colonies 



representative of the Renaissance. St. Paul's, founded by John 
Colet, to whom reference has been made as one of the early- 
humanistic leaders of England, became the model in curriculum, 
in method and in purpose. The first master, William Lilly, 
also a humanistic leader, perpetuated his influence and that of 
the school in a Latin grammar that was the standard text for all 
English schools for generations. 

At the time when Colet founded St. Paul's there existed in 
England from two to three hundred secondary schools in con- 
nection with monasteries, with cathedral or collegiate churches, 
with charity foundations in parish churches, with guilds or upon 
independent foundations. There were few of these latter, and 
all were inferior to Winchester and Eton. The close connection 
between these and the monastic schools is indicated by the il- 
lustration given, which is the oldest representation of Winchester 
School. The chief difference between these and monastic or 
hospital foundations was in the beginning not one of kind, but 
of degree. Here priests and paupers were provided for as well 
as scholars; but there were seventy of the latter and only three 
priests and sixteen charity foundationers. The main function 
of the institution was the preparation of students for New 
College, Oxford; hence teachers were provided, and behold! 
a new institution, a school rather than a monastery or a hospital. 
These public schools, nine of which, Winchester, Eton, St. Paul's, 
Westminster, Harrow, Charter-House, Rugby, Shrewsbury and 
Merchant Taylor's, are termed great, continued the narrow 
humanistic training as formulated during this early Renaissance 
period, almost without modification until the report of the 
royal commissioners of investigation in 1864. 

The Grammar School of the American colonies was a trans- 
planted English public school. Soon, however, these schools 
became supported and controlled by the colonial or local town 
governments. Only rarely did such a colonial school receive a 
foundation by bequest, and even more rarely was one founded 
by rehgious or private association. The curriculum, the method 



Renaissance and Humanistic Education 187 




and the purpose were almost identical with those of their English 
prototype. Such schools were to be found in all the colonies, 
with the exception of Georgia and North Carohna. They were 
most numerous in the New England colonies, where the religious 
motive was prominent and where colleges demanding the pre- 
paratory grammar train- 
ing were influential. In 
Massachusetts, Connecti- 
cut and Maryland sys- 
tems of such schools ex- 
isted. In Massachusetts 
alone such schools were 
estabhshed in considera- 
ble number. The first of 
these in America, the Bos- 
ton Latin School, founded 
1635, has existed con- 
tinuously to the present 

time. The illustration given is of the old schoolhouse in con- 
nection with King's Chapel, as it was during the early part of the 
eighteenth century, at the close of the long mastership of Ezekiel Boston 
Cheever. Cheever, the most famous of colonial schoolmasters, 
came to the Boston school in 1670, after a teaching experience The most 
of thirty- two years in New Haven and in various Massachusetts ^^Jf^g^g^. 
towns. For thirty-eight years he served as master of the Boston master 
school. Owing to the fact that social and educational tradi- 
tions were far less binding in the new country, the humanistic 
school gave place to a new type in America sooner than in any 
of the European countries. By the close of the eighteenth 
century, the Latin schools were replaced by the academy, to be 
mentioned later (p. 250). 

The Jesuit Schools, to be discussed under the Reformation 
(p. 202), were also important types of these schools. 



The Boston Latin Grammar School, 
FOUNDED 1635. 



The earliest 
of these 
schools at 



1 88 Brief Course in the History of Education 



SUMMARY 

The Renaissance was primarily a movement in individualism. The 
characteristic features of the period were the attempts to overthrow the 
various forms of authority, in Church, State, industrial and social organiza- 
tions, intellectual and educational life, dominant during the Middle Ages. 
In the earlier part of the movement and in the South of Europe, culture as 
the means of personal development was emphasized; later, and in the North, 
knowledge as a means of reforming those evils and injustices of society 
which were the outgrowth of ignorance was the chief interest. Two dis- 
tinct types of educational thought and practice grew out of the Renaissance. 
The first was the revival of the liberal education of the Greeks, which aimed 
at the development of personality by means of a great variety of educational 
instruments. This aim of education was broad and included a variety of 
elements besides the intellectual, and used many means besides the literary. 
Soon, however, this became the exception, and survived only in various 
forms of protests or reform movements which sprang up against the domi- 
nant type of education. This dominant type of education was the second 
educational outgrowth of the Renaissance. It was the narrow humanistic 
education into which the broad humanistic or Greek Hberal education soon 
degenerated. The classical languages and literatures were first studied 
as the source of all liberalizing ideas; then as a training in formal literary 
appreciation; then merely as a formal disciphne of the individual. Each 
country produced a number of Renaissance educational leaders and ap- 
propriate types of schools. Among the leaders Erasmus was the most 
prominent. The German gymnasium, the English public school, the 
American colonial grammar school and college, were all types of the 
narrow humanistic schools. In all, the content of education was restricted 
to the Greek and Latin languages and hteratures. This purely formal 
education became identified with the liberal education, and was the dominant 
type of education well into the nineteenth century. Any other conception 
or practice of education during the early modern period was wholly subor- 
dinate to this, and is of importance only as a protest or as a germ of subse- 
quent development. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE REFORMATION, THE COUNTER-REFORMATION AND THE 
RELIGIOUS CONCEPTION OF EDUCATION 



WHAT THE REFORMATION WAS. —The Renaissance in Relation of 
Germany is distinguishable from the Reformation only in its ^^^ Refor- 

-^ ° ■' mation to 

spirit and in its outcome. The most fundamental features of theRenais- 
this period have already been mentioned in stating the changed ^^'^'^^ 
character of the Renaissance in the North. The Italian Renais- 
sance was largely interested in classical and pagan literature; 
the Teutonic Renaissance, in patristic and Christian hterature. 
The one was concerned in personal culture ; the other, in social 
reform, in morals and m rehgion. One was individualistic and Chief differ- 
self -centered: the other was social and reformatory. One encewasm 

' -' the immedi- 

explanation of the difference is found in the fact that the civili- ate aim and 
zation of the Latin countries was based directly upon the classi- ^'^^^'^^^'^ 
cal institutions, the traditions and influences of which were 
ever present ; while the civilization of the Teutons had been a 
direct outgrowth of their Christianization. Another partial 
explanation is that the Teutonic mind had a moral and religious 
bent, while the Latin mind was predominantly secular in its 
interests. The interests of the fifteenth century were hterary 
and aesthetic, and involved the recovery and appreciation of the 
classical Hteratures. Those of the sixteenth century were 
ethical and theological, and involved criticism and reconstruc- 
tion rather than appreciation. 

This criticism and this reconstruction were directed toward The two 
two aspects of religion, one abstract and theological, the other {he rehgtous 
practical and moral. The movement began with the prac- reformation: 
tical effort to reform the many abuses within the Church. The ^eoiogkai 

189 



I go Brief Course in the History of Education 

necessity for such a reform was admitted by the Church long 
before the actual break occurred, and was striven for by many 
sections of the Catholic Church both before and after the open 
break had taken place. This tendency toward moral reform 
within the Church, which culminated in the Council of Trent 
(1545-1562), would probably in itself have caused no permanent 
division. But by that time the abstract and theological differ- 
ences, due to fundamental disagreement, had become so promi- 
nent that harmonization was no longer possible. 

This fundamental divergence in the conception of religion 
is due to the nature of the human mind. It had appeared in 
the discussions of the later Middle Ages between realists and 
nominalists. But so long as men's minds remained essentially 
uncritical and without the basis for forming positive judgments, 
the inherent incompatibility of the views did not cause open 
rupture. With the Renaissance this basis was furnished in the 
knowledge of ancient and patristic literature, and the critical 
spirit was consequently developed. Hence it was inevitable 
that the two fundamental views of religion should come in con- 
flict. The one view looks upon religion as a completed truth, 
revealed in its entirety by divine providence and given into the 
hands of an institution, which, in its origin, constitution and 
authority, is as divine as the original revelation itself. To the other 
view, religion is a truth divine in its origin, but completed only 
with the growth and through the development of the spirit of 
man. It is not a completed truth, but one whose principles are 
perfected by progressive application through the lives of men. 
Its particular meaning, in time and place, is given by the ap- 
plication of man's reason to the original revelation. Accepting 
the original revelation as the basis, the one finds the truth 
completed in the authority of the Church, the other in the rea- 
son of the individual. Hence the emphasis on reason, originat- 
ing in the Renaissance, was continued by the Reformation and 
applied to religious beliefs and practices. The tendency to 
observation, comparison, criticism, — that is, the appeal to 



The Refor- 
mation was 



The Reformation 191 

original sources and to experience — which characterizes the 
humanistic Renaissance is the essential characteristic of the 
Protestant Reformation. From this grew the most important 
educational consequences. 

The counter-Reformation was the reaction against this Thecoun- 
movement toward separation. The inquisition was the chief tfonwaTthe* 
negative or repressive means of this reactionary movement, reactionary 
and education its chief positive one. This education was con- within the 
trolled for the most part by the newly organized teaching con- Roman 
gregations, chief among which was the Society of Jesus. Church 

INFLUENCE OF THIS PERIOD ON THE CONCEPTION 
AND SPIRIT OF EDUCATION. —The logical outcome of the 
views of the reformers would have led, first, to a continuous 
development of the Renaissance emphasis upon the use of reason 
in the interpretation of secular life and of nature ; second, to the at first a 
restriction of the authority of the Scriptures to rehgious matters ; ^^l^^'^ "die 
and third, to the use of reason by the individual even in the best educa- 
interpretation of the Scriptures. But the tendencies in all of en^TJoJ^' 
these hues were checked before the expiration of a single genera- Renaissance 
tion. Luther, in the early days at Wittenberg, wrote: " What 
is contrary to reason is certainly much more contrary to God. 
For how should not that be against divine truth which is against 
reason and human truth ? " And even later he said, "It is 
admitted that reason is the chief of all things, and among all A reaction 
that belongs to this life, the best, yea, a something divine." 1°'']^^^^^^''^ 
But before the close of his life he stated as his view that, views 
"The more subtle and acute is reason, the more poisonous a 
beast, with many dragon's heads, is it against God, and all His 
works." This latter position is reiterated with characteristic 
vehemence and denotes not only an individual but a general 
change. 

The Reformation leaders themselves recognized that the 
doctrine of the Reformation contained inherently the right of 
liberty of conscience and the duty of interpreting the Scriptures 
according to one's own reason. But they found it quite as 



192 Brief Cotirse in the History of Education 

difficult as it had been before to admit this right for others. 
Hence the apphcation of the critical and rational faculties to 
literature, religion and secular affairs, to institutional life and 
to the realities of nature, was left for succeeding centuries. Even 
then this progress was through bitter conflict with the reformed 
churches as well as with the Roman Catholic. Liberalism of 
thought and emphasis on reason find little realization in the 
education of the time, either as formulated into doctrine, as 
organized into schools or as expressed in the somewhat inde- 
finable spirit of education. 

Formalism in its Results. — On the contrary we find education 
dominated by a formalism growing out of the dominant theo- 
logical groups into which the Protestant movement divided, 
the Lutheran, the Calvinistic, the Zwinglian and the Socinian, 
with their almost innumerable subdivisions. Lutheranism es- 
pecially, following the political divisions of the German people, 
became a congeries of discordant sects, whose chief interests 
were now in the petty conflicts among themselves. The result 
was a multitude of creeds, expanded to cover the minutest 
details, carrying to their respective adherents all the authority 
of the Scriptures. Intellectual life was bound within these 
narrow limits. The education of the schools, higher and lower, 
took its purpose and received its spirit from this same formal 
and narrow interest. The counter-Reformation intensified the 
same attitude upon the part of those of the Catholic communion. 
For the later half of the sixteenth and for all of the seventeenth 
century there existed a new scholasticism, either Protestant or 
Roman Catholic. In this there was a return to Aristotelianism 
as a basis for the endless definitions and distinctions made 
necessary by these involved systems. Though the content 
of this scholasticism of the sixteenth century was somewhat 
different from that of the thirteenth, its spirit and form 
were the same. 

For these reasons the Reformation failed to secure freedom 
of learning, the spread of culture and the development of 



The Reformation 193 

science, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, though The domi- 
these intellectual and educational results were logically involved ^^^'^^ °^ 

° -' the new 

in the basal positions of the reformers. The bitter partisan formaUsm 
and destructive religious wars of the entire period were partially ^".^ ^^^ 
responsible for the dominance of the state over religion and for wars explain 
the formal and scholastic character of education. These con- o"? ^g^T ^-^^ 
ditions also explain the low ebb of educational affairs during the tionai affairs 
seventeenth century and the fact that the educational ideals of Reformation 
the early reformers and the reformed states did not begin to times 
be realized until late in the seventeenth or in the eighteenth 
century. 

This formal theological education appeared not only in the The formal- 
content of the work of universities and higher schools and in the lower^schoois 
spirit of the intellectual life in general, but also in the concrete 
work of the lower schools. Here it was not the actual training 
in formal theology so much as it was the training in the old 
dialectic power, the power of making fine distinctions in the 
meaning of words and of using abstract terms. There was little 
or no interest in content. Thus there resulted in all the schools 
an emphasis on the memory and on the abstract logical activities 
of the mind, with little reference to the inherent vaHdity of the 
material upon which it worked. 

Humanistic Content. — On the content side the Reformation ed- Humanistic 
ucators accepted the humanistic curriculum, though they used it curriculum 

^ ' o ./ accepted 

for a purpose different from that of the earlier humanistic educa- by the re- 
tors. This acceptance resulted from the vital connection between ^o^'^i^rs 
the two movements, previously noted, and from the fact that a 
mastery of the classical languages was essential to the direct 
study of the Scriptures and of the Fathers in the originals. Con- Addition of 
sequently, this study became the immediate purpose of Protestant ^^^'fj^j^j 
education and found a prominent place in Protestant schools. 
The curriculum received a profound reUgious bias in a variety 
of ways. Catechisms, creeds and church services were memo- 
rized. The Scriptures were used as a text. The entire work of Aim of the 
the school was directed to the exposition of Christian literature ^'^^"^ 



194 Brief Course in the History of Education 



and doctrine and to the development of exegetical and polemical 
ability. 

Institutional Effects. — One other great educational influence 
of the Reformation was the establishment of systems of schools 
based upon the idea of universal education. The development 
and completion of such systems of state pubhc schools awaited 
the growth of the political idea that the welfare of the state 
depends upon the education of the individual citizens. But 
the basis for all such systems is found in the Reformation doc- 
trine that the eternal welfare of every individual depends upon 
the application of his own reason to the revelation contained in 
the Scriptures. Consequently the ability to read the Scriptures 
in some form, the desirability of reading them in the 
original, and the necessity for the training of the rational 
powers presented new tasks for the school and demanded the 
universal and even compulsory education of children of all 
classes and of both sexes. It is not maintained that the Refor- 
mation gave the Bible to the people in the vernacular, for 
there were at least twenty-four German editions before that of 
Luther. Nor is it true that it gave the elementary school to the 
people ; for it is probable that the actual opportunity for educa- 
tion open to children of all classes was greater for the century 
before the Reformation than it was for the century afterward. 
But the modern idea of elementary education is undoubtedly an 
outgrowth of the principles involved in the Reformation. 

SOME REFORMATION EDUCATORS. — It is quite difficult, if 
not impossible, to differentiate the humanistic from the rehgious 
educators of the sixteenth century. From the fact that the north 
European humanists gave the new learning a reformatory bent, 
they were collectively responsible for the Reformation movement. 
While many of them, such as Erasmus, Wimpfeling, More and 
Rabelais, refused to break with the Church and rejected the violent 
methods of the reformers, they could not dissociate themselves 
from this responsibility. On the one hand, many of those 
prominent as humanistic educators, such as Sturm, are quite 



The Reformation 195 

as good representatives of religious education. On the other 

hand, many of those usually considered as Reformation educa- Religious 

tors, such as Melanchthon, are quite as thoroughly humanistic ^^'^^^'^ ^^^^ 

' '■ o J in aim and 

as any mentioned in the previous chapter. The rehgious aspect organization; 
of the work of these educators is revealed in the purpose and chiTfl^in'*^' 
organization of education, vi^hile the humanistic or realistic content 
aspect appears in the content or subject-matter. The Reforma- 
tion and the counter-Reformation movements produced many 
great educators and leaders of educational thought, though but 
few of them are here mentioned in detail. In fact, it was 
a consequence of the character of the later Renaissance move- 
ment that all the religious leaders seized upon education as the 
chief instrument for bringing about the reforms which they 
desired. On the Protestant side, the great leaders are Luther 
and Melanchthon and, in a less important way, the other great 
reformers. 

John Calvin (i 509-1 564) was occupied during the greater Educational 
part of his life in rehgious and theological controversies. Only ^"['^."f 
during his later years did he give especial attention to education. 
He then organized a college at Geneva, which was httle more 
than a typical humanistic Latin school. Later, these schools 
became quite numerous throughout France among the Protes- 
tant communities. With the expulsion of the Huguenots, many 
schools of a similar type, under the patronage or influence of the 
French refugees, were estabhshed in Germany, as a type scarcely 
to be distinguished from the fiirstenschulen previously mentioned 
(p. 183). Zwingli (1484-1532), the great Swiss reformer, fostered 
the humanistic learning, encouraged the formation of elementary 
schools, and wrote a treatise on '^The manner 0} instructing and of Zwingii 
bringing up boys in a Christian way '^ (1524). John Knox ^"^^'^"^ 
(1505-1572), the leader of the Scotch Reformation, was the 
chief agent in the establishment of the parish school system of 
Scotland (p. 210). 

Martin Luther (1483-1546), the great protagonist of the 
Reformation, assumed the leadership of the educational 



196 Brief Conrse in the History of Educatio7t 

movement that had begun in Germany even before the 
germs of the Renaissance ideas took root. This movement 
was threefold. It worked through the power of the state 
toward the dehverance of education from the trammels which 
the Church had gradually forged for it through centuries. It 
strove for a wider dissemination of the opportunities for edu- 
cation. It held a truer conception of the function of education 
in life, both rehgious and secular. All of these tendencies har- 
monized with Luther's beliefs, and the success of the Reforma- 
tion necessitated at least a partial realization of them. Luther 
harshly condemned the education given by monastic and ecclesi- 
astical schools and held that the purpose and scope of education 
was no longer to be dominated by religion and the Church. In 
his Address to the Mayors and Councilmen of the German Cities, 
Luther writes : — 

"Were there neither soul, heaven, nor hell, it would be still necessary 
to have schools for the sake of affairs here below, as the history of the 
Greeks and the Romans plainly teaches. The world has need of educated 
men and women, to the end that the men may govern the country properly, 
and that the women may properly bring up their children, care for their 
domestics and direct the affairs of their households." 

He looked upon the family as an educational institution not 
secondary even to the school. In his view education became 
something broader than the school. But the school itself was 
to be broader than that which then existed, and much broader 
than those established by his followers of the sixteenth and the 
seventeenth centuries. It is true that Latin and Greek con- 
stituted the bulk of Luther's curriculum. To those languages he 
added Hebrew, and also attempted to bring this linguistic educa- 
tion within the reach of all. But his curriculum was much more 
than linguistic. He also added the logic and mathematics 
demanded by the times, but laid a new emphasis upon history, 
science and music. This latter provision indicates one of 
Luther's most important influences upon the German people. 
For through his influence music became a component part of 



The Reformation i()'j 

the education of all. Gymnastics and physical education were 
given a place new to German thought. 

Luther clearly saw the fundamental importance of universal Luther's 
education for the Reformation and insisted upon it throughout ^^^^^ ^° 

^ o cerning i 

his teachings. Schooling was to be brought to all the people, versaiedu- 
noble and common, rich and poor; it was to include both boys 
and girls — a remarkable advance ; finally, the state was to 
frame laws for compulsory attendance. 

In the Address previously mentioned Lpther wrote: — 



cation 



"I by no means approve of those schools where a child was accustomed Luther's 
to pass twenty or thirty years in studying Donatus or Alexander, without conception 
learning anything. Another world has dawned, in which things go differ- ° a- sc oo 
ently. My opinion is that we must send the boys to school one or two 
hours a day, and have them learn a trade at home for the rest of the time. 
It is desirable that these two occupations march side by side." 

It was further his opinion that the authorities were " bound 
to force their subjects to send their children to school," just as 
they compelled every subject to render military service and for 
much the same reason; namely, for the defense and the pros- 
perity of the state. Consequently, education should be state- 
supported and state-controlled. 

The concrete work of carrying ideas into effect was left to his 
followers. Chief among these was Melanchthon. 

Philip Melanchthon (1479-1560) is called the Preceptor of Ger- Reason for 
many, for he was to Germany in educational reform what Luther Mdanfh- 
was in rehgious reform. The title was not given without good thon the 
reason, for at his death there was scarcely a city in all Germany Gennan°y ° 
but had modified its schools according to Melanchthon's direct 
advice or after his general suggestions, and scarcely a school of 
any importance but numbered some pupil of his among its 
teachers. Wittenberg was the center from which radiated Work at the 
these influences, united as they were with those of Luther. In Wittenberg" 
this university Melanchthon labored for the last forty-two years 
of his life. Through his influence the university was soon re- 
modeled along humanistic and Protestant lines, and became the 



198 Brief Course in the History of Education 

model of the many new universities of Germany. To Wit- 
tenberg flocked students by the thousand, drawn by Melanch- 
thon's great reputation. From Wittenberg, in turn, were sent 
out teachers carrying Melanchthon's idea into all Germany. If 
a prince needed a professor for his university or a city a rector 
for its schools, Melanchthon was consuhed and most i^aturally 
one of his pupils chosen. The most distinguished teachers of 
this period, such as Neander and Trotzendorf , were his pupils, 
or, hke Sturm, dependent upon him for counsel. Through his 
correspondence and visitation of schools he led in educational 
reform. 

Melanchthon's contact with the individual pupil was 
mainly through his many text-books. When sixteen years of 
age, he wrote the Greek grammar which later became almost 
universally the text for the German schools. His Latin gram- 
mar, written later, achieved a similar vogue. His texts on 
dialectic, rhetoric, ethics, physics, history, were similarly useful 
in the lower schools ; and his theology became the great text 
for Protestant universities and higher schools. 

Through his formulation of the Visitation Articles of Saxony 
in 1528 (p. 208), drawn up at the request of the Elector, he 
became the founder of the modern state school system. 

Melanchthon's pedagogical writings consist chiefly of in- 
augural addresses or lectures to students on the value of the 
study of literature and philosophy. They are of importance 
only as indicating the content and spirit of the humanistic 
education. 

TYPES OF RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS. The Universities.— 
The history of the universities of the German states during the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was determined by the prog- 
ress of the Protestant religion and was almost identical with 
the development of Protestant theology. Wittenberg, founded 
in 1502 as the first university of the new learning, became through 
the residence of Luther and Melanchthon the very center of 
Protestantism. The universities gradually threw off their alle- 



The Reformation 199 

glance to the pope and transferred it to the temporal princes. New uni- 
Since their support was now derived from the favor of these 
governments instead of from ecclesiastical sources, the control 
exerted by the princes became determinative. To a considerable 
extent the"- support came from the dissolution of old monastic 
and ecclesiastical foundations. Marburg, founded in 1527, 
was the first of these Protestant universities, while Konigsberg, 
Jena, Helmstadt, Dorpat, and a number of others were added 
within a century. Within this same period seven Roman Catho- 
hc universities were founded within the Hmits of the German 
states. Several during the same period grew out of gymnasien, 
as the one at Strasburg (162 1) from Sturm's school, and the 
one at Altdorf (1578) from a famous institution at Nuremberg. 
Both of these were Protestant. The work in many of these was 
of a high character, and their influence great. Altdorf, for Work of the 
example, though very poor, is said to have contributed more to German 
philosophical study than all of the universities of the British universities 
empire. Yet, in general, by the seventeenth century the 
activities of these institutions degenerated into the hfeless 
formalism previously mentioned. A German historian re- 
marks that the dominant theological interest " called into 
existence a dialectic scholasticism, which was in no way inferior 
to that of the most flourishing period of the Middle Ages, either 
in the greatness or minuteness of the careful and acute develop- 
ment of its scientific form, or in the full and accurate exhibition 
of its rehgious contents." 

In England the connection between the Reformation and The Refor- 
the universities followed a similar course. At Cambridge, ^g*^En^iish 
where the Reformation centered, the movement began early in universities 
the period, under the leadership of T}Tidale (c. 1484-1536) and 
Latimer (1485-1555). The dissolution of the monasteries and 
friaries which formed so important a part of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge occasioned considerable diminution in their power and 
effectiveness. This was gradually offset by the founding of new 
colleges from the spoils of these dissolutions and by the establish- 



200 Brief Course in the History of Education 

ment of regius professorships. In various other ways the 
monarch and the national Church came to the support of the 
universities, but in time the degeneracy in work and hfe of these 
institutions was even more marked than in those of Germany. 
Humanistic Piotestant Control of the Humanistic Secondary Schools. — 
controlled by '^^^ movement toward the secularization of the Latin schools, 
the states bcgun in the fifteenth century, was completed by the Reforma- 
tion movement in the sixteenth. This secularization related to 
the control of schools and not to the purpose and character of 
study. Even under state control the dominant motive was the re- 
ligious one. The rectors of these schools, as well as many of their 
teachers, were Protestant leaders or ministers. The dominant 
influence in the boards of control and visitation was always 
Influence of exercised by the representative of the Church. The new schools 
Meianch- founded Were shaped by Melanchthon's " School Plan," which 

thons School ^ -^ . ' 

Plan was thoroughly humanistic in the sense that Erasmus and Luther 

would approve. The purpose was chiefly religious and pohtical, 
rather than humanitarian in the broader sense. In content 
little difference, if any, from the old schools can be discovered. 
A little Greek and less mathematics were added to the Latin 
curriculum. No attention was paid to the vernacular. 
State system A morc Striking change was the organization of these schools 
of secondary Jj^j-q gystcms, through the cooperation of the state with the 
municipalities. The first distinctly Protestant gymnasium was 
that of Magdeburg, founded from the union of the old parochial 
schools in 1524. The following year Melanchthon drew up his 
plan of a gymnasium for the school of Eisleben, the birthplace of 
Luther. In 1528 the electorate of Saxony estabhshed the first 
general system of such schools. It provided for the founding of 
Latin schools on Melanchthon's plan in all the towns and villages 
of Saxony. The Duchy of Wiirtemberg followed in 1559 and 
the other German states later. 

In England these secondary schools have not to this day been 
organized into a system. However, they remained practically 
under the control of the national Church. The reorganization 



The Rcfoi'-niatioii 



20I 



of these schools by Henry VIII and Edward VI was for the pur- in England 
pose of destroying the monastic and ecclesiastical control. Each ^"^j^^^^*^"^^ 
was placed on a separate foundation, but most of them were so pendent 
organized that the masters and fellows, the teaching and the En"![ish p^b- 
controlling bodies, must be from the clergy of the Established lie schools 
Church. Thus they remained until the reforms of the nineteenth 
century. 




The Westminster Public School, London (f. 1542) 

The great schoolroom in an old monastery 

The Teaching Congregations. — No more conclusive evidence 
can be cited of the effectiveness of the Protestant schools as a 
means of reforming social and ecclesiastical evils and of establish- 
ing churches, than the adoption of the same means by the Roman 
Catholic Church. The instruments of the church were the new 
monastic or teaching orders. With the old monastic orders 
educational efforts were wholly subordinate. More important 
still, they were hostile in their nature and spirit to the new ideas 
and methods. The teaching orders adopted such ideas and 
methods, as improved upon by the Reformation schools, and 
exalted educational effort as their chief purpose. Until the early 
part of the nineteenth century these orders controlled secondary 



202 Brief Course in the History of Education 

and higher education, and for the most part elementary educa- 
tion also, in the Roman Catholic countries of south Europe and 
in France. They were also quite extensively represented in the 
Protestant countries of north Europe. The strongest and most 
important of these orders was that of the Jesuits. 

The Schools oj the Jesuit Order. — The Society of Jesus, organ- 
ized in 1540, became the chief instrument of the counter-Ref- 
ormation movement. The means adopted by the order for the 
accomplishment of its purposes were preaching, confession and 
teaching. 

We are here concerned with its educational activities alone, 
and with these in their historic aspect. Hence all such ques- 
tions as the character of its influence, the motives inspiring it, 
the permissibility of its methods, the interference of the order in 
political affairs, the justification of the suppression of the order, 
are aside from our interests. It is possible to consider the or- 
ganization, content, method and administration of its system 
of education without an intimate investigation of its spirit and 
purpose. This latter is something not to be gained from the 
study of plans and records or from the reading of books. It is 
possible to form a favorable judgment of the one without being 
in accord with the other. Certain it is that the schools, which 
were the most successful educational institutions of two hun- 
dred years and educated very many of the leaders of Europe 
for that period, were not without great merit. 

The Constitution of the Order consists of ten parts, the 
fourth one of which is the Ratio Studiorum, or System of Studies. 
tionai system This was not perfected until 1599, and remained unchanged 
until 1832. As formulated, it embodied not only the experience 
of the order through more than half a century of teaching and 
experiment, but also a full consideration of the experience of 
others. The order possessed the advantage of being able to 
give continuous attention to the subject and to carry on close 
observation and wide experimentation. No other single edu- 
cator or group of educators had such advantages. 



The Reformation 203 

The function of the order was to train prospective members interest con- 
and to educate youth in general. They provided not only ondai^and 
religious but also the most thorough secular education of the higher edu- 
times. So successfully did they do this that they drew stu- 
dents even from the Protestant communions. The order was 
devoted to the education of leaders and consequently had Httle 
interest in elementary education, and hence in the education of 
the masses. Two classes of schools were established, colleges 
inferior and colleges superior; the former corresponding to the 
gymnasien and the latter to the universities and theological 
seminaries. 

Extent of Influence. — By the second quarter of the seven- Number of 
teenth century the number of their colleges had increased to of students 
372. By the opening of the eighteenth century they controlled 
t)i2 colleges, 157 normal schools, 24 universities, and 200 mis- 
sions. And at the time of the suppression of the order, after 
the middle of that century, the colleges of both grades num- 
bered 728. The attendance upon many of the larger of these 
colleges was over 2000; the total attendance in the department 
of Paris was over 13,000; and in the various national colleges 
at Rome more than 2000. At the time of the suppression, the 
order numbered about 22,000 members, the majority of whom 
were devoted to the work of education. 

Organization. — One cause of the great success of these Outline of 
schools is found in their completeness of organization and con- *tion^^°^' 
tinuity of administration. The order was divided into ad- 
ministrative provinces, each presided over by a provincial 
responsible directly to the general. On the educational side 
were the rectors of the various colleges, under the provincial but 
appointed by the general. In turn, under the rectors were the 
prefects of studies, the educational supervisors, who were ap- 
pointed by the provincials. The teachers were directly super- 
vised by both rector and prefect, and the latter was required to 
make frequent visits to each class. This constant supervision 
and the constant check exercised on one officer by another, as 



204 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Close super- 
vision and 
absolute 
authority of 
superior 
officers char- 
acteristic 



Rigorous dis- 
cipline 



Corporal 
punishment 
almost elimi- 
nated 



Thorough 
training of 
teachers 



explains the 
great suc- 
cess of their 
schools 



well as the preparatory training of all their teachers, made for a 
definiteness of procedure and a certainty of results that are with- 
out parallel in schools of that or subsequent times. 

This close supervision, amounting almost to repression on the 
one hand and espionage on the other, was also characteristic of 
the government of the pupils in the schools. The students were 
divided into groups under monitors and into pairs, so that each 
acted as a check upon the other. Thus order was secured and 
a respect for absolute authority that resulted almost in an elimi- 
nation of individuahty. Notwithstanding these characteristics 
in the way of limitations, there were corresponding merits in 
the matter of educational government. Discipline was secured 
through this ever present evidence of authority and by depend- 
ence upon religious motive, consequently the great abuse of 
corporal punishment, so characteristic of the time, was abnost 
eliminated. In place of resorting to physical force, the Jesuit 
teachers elaborated, in their characteristically thorough and 
practical way, a system of rewards that made use of the motive 
of emulation to an extent never before employed. 

Preparation of Teachers. — Yet another cause of the edu- 
cational success of the order was due to the thoroughness of teach- 
ing in their schools, resulting from the careful preparation of 
teachers. The teaching force was made up for the most part of 
those who had passed through the rigid course of the lower and 
usually of the superior college, while the permanent teachers 
who directed the work of the student teachers were trained 
through a long university and normal career. Those best 
adapted to teaching were selected for this permanent service. 
As the members were picked men, to begin with, the order 
obtained a selected body of teachers far superior to those of any 
schools of the times. 

The Subject-matter of the Jesuit schools was of the charac- 
teristic humanistic order. In this respect they did not differ from 
the other schools of the time, either as to the scope of the material 
pr the purpose to be achieved by its use. Their superiority lay 



The Reformation 205 

in the fact that they were one and all kept up to the high stand- Subject- 
ard of the Ratio, while the greatest variation prevailed among ^^.tter 
the schools under secular control in regard to methods and the humanistic 
selection of the subject-matter. ^}^^ ^^\ 

■> gious mate- 

Method. — Frequent reviews were given. Each day began rial added 
with a review of the previous one; each week closed with a re- 
view; each year with a review of the year's work; and finally Frequent 
the student destined for the order reviewed the entire course acterized 
by teaching it. their method 

Each class was divided into groups presided over by decurions, Organization 
to whom the boys recited under the general supervision of the ^'/h^'} ^^ 

.,,... . school 

master. Another division was into groups of two, the rivals, by 
which means each boy was to become a corrective and an incen- 
tive to his companion, being expected to keep watch over his 
studies as well as over his conduct. A larger division of the 
classes was into groups for discussion concerning points of the 
lesson, grammatical, rhetorical and historical. These discus- 
sions were called cancer tatlons. The brighter boys were organ- 
ized into academies, where the concertation became fully developed 
dialectic discussions. Themes, essays, translations, discussions 
of classical subjects, all entered here. Membership in these was 
wholly voluntary and was one of the forms of reward for merit. 

Their entire work was based upon the principle that it is much Principle of 
better to give a small amount in a thorough manner than to give thorough- 
a rather indefinite impression or partial mastery of a quantity. 
Hence no single word was left without thorough explanation. 
While from the modern point of view their education was not 
broad, it was very thorough and very effective. 

Defects and Decline. — After this review of the exceptional Decline of 
excellence of these schools, some explanation must be given of order due to 

'■ ' " political and 

the extreme hostility aroused by them among the Protestants social reia- 
and of the opposition of the Roman Cathohc Church that oc- ^^^^^'p^ 
casioned the temporary suppression of the order. To a large 
extent this hostility was due to the political activities of the order. 
The occasion for this is found in the application of the funda- 



2o6 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Limitation 
of the educa- 
tional work 
and prin- 
ciples 

marked with 
the more re- 
cent changes 
in spirit and 
subj ect-m at- 
ter of edu- 
cation 



Character of 
Port Royal 
schools op- 
posite to 
that of the 
Jesuits 



Port Royal 
educators 



mental principle of the order, that all is to be done for the greater 
glory of God (A.M.D.G., as it passed into the usual formula of 
the order, that is, ad majorem Dei gloriam). This was secured 
through advancing the interests of the Church. In its applica- 
tion the principle means the complete subjection of the individual 
member to the order, and of the order and of all whom it edu- 
cated or could influence to the Church. Once more, in principle 
as well as in practice, the individual was to disappear completely 
before the institution. The principle frankly avowed by the 
order in its work, and expressed in the vows of the members, 
was the complete subjection of the individual. Their educa- 
tional scheme was directed toward this end. 

As Macaulay observes, " the Jesuits seemed to have found 
the point up to which intellectual development could be carried 
without reaching intellectual independence." 

Both practice and principle of the Jesuit education were in 
opposition to the new ideals of the Renaissance period. Their 
very method, perfect as it was in its way, inhibited all initiative 
and prevented the development of all spontaneity and of all 
freedom of opinion. Their superiority was maintained so long 
as there was no great change in the spirit and subject-matter of 
education. But when, with the eighteenth century, there came 
to be a decided movement away from the dominant theological 
spirit and from the formal humanistic content of education, the 
Jesuit schools lost much of their prestige and superiority. 

The Port Royal Schools. — The schools of this order repre- 
sented a reaction against the dominant Jesuit education both 
in their conception of education and in their method. They 
attained their importance not from their number or from the 
length of time that they existed (1637-1661), but from their 
influence. This was wholly confined to France, and was ex- 
erted chiefly through the writings of the members of the order. 

The schools were founded by Duvergier de Hauranne (1581- 
(1643), better known as St. Cyran, from the abbey over which 
he presided. Several of the leaders of the order wrote educa- 



The Reformaticm 207 

tional treatises widely circulated. Their most renowned pupils 
were La Fontaine (1621-1695) and Pascal (1623-1662). 

Individual care of the pupil by the teacher was one of their dis- individual 
tinguishing marks. To such an extreme was this carried that the '^^'^^i^jf^-^ 
child was never left free to himself, but was ever under the per- great prin- 
sonal charge of his teacher. This practice grew out of the funda- ^^1^ °j 
mental belief that the purpose of education was to shape the moral 
and religious character of the child; to mold his will by sur- 
rounding him with good influences. The motive of their work was 
the love of the child, enunciated now probably for the first time. 

They held that children should be compelled to study only 
that which they could understand, and consequently that their Principle of 
education should begin with the vernacular instead of with '"^^'^^^^ 
Latin. They discarded the alphabetical method of teaching 
and invented a phonic method. After the vernacular was 
mastered, the child was introduced to classical literature through 
translations. When Latin was begun, it was taught with a 
minimum of grammar, chiefly through translation into the 
vernacular, followed by the reading of wide selections from the 
classics. The moral training through the use of the subject- 
matter was to come from literature instead of from language. 
Hence this small group of men exerted a great influence on the 
development of French literature. Literature, history, mathe- 
matics, were to be used on account of their content value, but influence on 
only so far as they could be used in shaping character. Their ^^^^^ J^ 
thought was to lay the foundations of all schooling in a thorough literature 
mastery of the beginnings, but to make that mastery as attractive 
as possible to the pupil, by emphasizing content rather than Modem 
form, by building upon the understanding rather than upon the ^f ^^^1^*'^^ 
memory, and by a greater use of the senses than had been the educational 
custom previously. .., ^'^^^ 

Elementary Schools in Protestant Countries. — TheChiei 
practical outgrowth of the Reformation was in the establishment 
of systems of schools controlled and partly supported by the 
state, founded on the principle that it was the duty of the 



2o8 Brief Cotcrse in the History of Education 

family, of the Church, and especially of the state to see that 
every child attended these schools and received at least an ele- 
mentary education. 

The Public School Systems of the German States were the first 
of the modem type. Not until 1559 do we find a system of 
schools providing for all the people. In that year the Duke 
of Wiirtemberg adopted a plan, though it was not approved by 
the state until 1565. This system, an extension of the Saxony 




A German Elementary School of the Sixteenth Century 

plan, provided for elementary vernacular schools in every 
village, in which reading, writing, religion and sacred music 
were to be taught. The Latin schools in every town and city 
were expanded into six classes, instead of the three of Melanch- 
thon's original plan for Saxony (p. 198). Above these were the 
cloisteral or higher Latin schools, which were later incorporated 
with the lower Latin schools into the gymnasien. Crowning it all 



The Reformation 209 

was the university (Tubingen). In 1580 the Saxony plan was re- 
vised so as to incorporate the elementary vernacular schools of the 
Wurtemberg system. This code, borrowed from the Wiirtem- 
berg plan, remained without substantial revision until 1773. In Subsequent 
1724 it had been provided that girls as well as boys should ^ ^"^^^ 
attend. In 1773 the compulsory provision extending from the 
fifth to the fourteenth year was made effective and the scope of 
the curriculum broadened. Meanwhile, during the early seven- 
teenth century, Weimar, Hesse Darmstadt, Mecklenburg, 
Holstein and others German states adopted systems that in Other Ger- 
some respects were in advance of the Wiirtembcrg and Saxony school' *^ 
plans. The first state to adopt the principle of compulsory systems 
education for children of all classes was Weimar, in 1619. It 
provided that all children, girls as well as boys, should be kept 
in school from the sixth to the twelfth year. Duke Ernst the Reforms of 
Pious of Gotha, more than any other ruler, deserves the credit ^j^^ piouT^ 
for the founding of the modem system of German schools. In 
1642 he adopted a comprehensive regulation for the schools of 
the duchy which was substantially the same as that of the German 
states at the present time. Attendance from the fifth year was 
required of every boy and girl in the province. The school year 
was to be ten months in length and the children were compelled 
to attend every week-day. The school day was to be from nine 
to twelve and from one to four every day in the week, except that 
Wednesday and Saturday afternoons were free. Parents were 
to be fined for non-attendance of children. The subjects of in- 
struction were those of the Wurtemberg plan with the addition 
of arithmetic. The grading of the schools, the details of the 
subjects of study and the methods of instruction were all pro- 
vided for in the general law. 

The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) had a disastrous effect Effect of 
upon the development of the school systems of all the German Years' War 
states, and it was not until the eighteenth century that school 
affairs begin to make continuous and rapid progress. Then g^^^^h^oi 
the Prussian school system, founded in 1648, rapidly forged to system 



2IO Brief Course in the History of Education 

the front in all educational matters. By that time, however, it 
was political rather than religious considerations that were 
determinative in the control of the schools. (See p. 388.) 

No other people have even approximated the achievements 
of the German states in these respects. Until late into the 
nineteenth century, England left all educational effort either to 
the family or to the Church. The chief means were the great 
public schools and special religious-educational societies. Among 
these were the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 
(founded 1699), the British and Foreign School Society (founded 
1805), the National Society (181 1), and the Home and Colonial 
School Society (1836). 

In Scotland the early Reformation period witnessed many 
efforts toward the establishment of schools under the influence 
of the Church. But it was not until 1696 that an effective 
system was established through the cooperation of Church and 
state. At that time an act was passed requiring the land- 
holders of each parish to provide a schoolhousc and to support a 
schoolmaster. In case the land-holders did not do this, the 
presbytery was authorized to apply to the commissioners of the 
shire, who were then to secure the enforcement of the act. 
The control of the teacher and the supervision of the schools 
were largely in the hands of the Church. Many of these schools 
offered secondary instruction as well as elementary, and sent 
boys directly to the university. Consecjuently the Scottish 
people had much better educational facilities and reached a 
higher common standard of intelligence than those of any 
other portion of the British Empire. No changes of any im- 
portance were made in the system until the opening year of 
the nineteenth century. Provisions were then made for more 
than one school in the larger parishes, and for transferring the 
power of selecting teachers from the Church to the taxpayers. 
From this time on a system of education adequate for towns 
as well as for rural regions gradually grew up. 

In Holland a system of elementary schools was established 



The Reformat ioji 



21 I 



under the auspices of the reformed churches. Notwith- 
standing the cruelly oppressive Spanish wars of the sixteenth 
century, the synods of the Dutch Reformed Church made 
provision for the education of the youth. But it was not until 
the Synod of Dort (1618) that the Church undertook, in con- 
nection with the state, the establishment of a system of elemen- 
tary schools in every parish. This system was as efficient as the 
chaotic condition of the times would permit. The earliest 
schools in the American colonies were established in accordance 
with the requirement of the Church-state of Holland that the 
respective trading companies should provide schools and 
churches for everv one of their settlements. 



Develop- 
ment of the 
school sys- 
tem of Hol- 
land out of 
the Refor- 
mation 




A DiiiCH Village School of thk Sixteemii Centurv 



In America the earliest systems of schools, however, were 
in the Puritan colonies in New England. These were also 
direct outgrowths of the Reformation spirit. The iirst general 
law providing for schools was passed in 1647 by the Massachu- 
setts Bay Colony. The oft-quoted preamble to that law indi- 
cates the dominant motive. " It being one chief project of 
that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the 
Scriptures, as, in former times, keeping them in an unknown 
tongue, so in these later times, by persuading them from the use 



Systems of 
schools in 
the New 
England 
colonies 
grew out 
of the same 
Reformation 
influences 



2 1 2 Brief Coju^sc in the History of Education 



of tongues; so that at last the true sense and meaning of the 
original might be clouded and corrupted with false glosses of 
deceivers; and to the end that learning may not be buried in the 
graves of our forefathers, in Church and Commonwealth, the 
Lord assisting our endeavors; " it was therefore ordered that an 
elementary school should be established in every town of fifty 
families, and a Latin school in every town of one hundred families. 
In 1650 the Connecticut Colony passed a law of similar import. 
Elementary Education in Roman Catholic Countries. — The 
Christian Brothers performed for elementary education, at 
least in France and to a less degree in other Roman Catholic 
communities, the same service which the Jesuits did for sec- 
ondary education. 

The Institute of the Brethren 0} the Christian Schools was 
founded in 1684 by Jean Baptiste de la Salle (i 651-17 19). By 
the time of the founder's death the institute numbered 27 houses 
and 274 brothers; by the opening of the Revolution 122 houses 
and 800 brothers. The spread of the institute until its establish- 
ment in almost every land, Protestant and Catholic, was the work 
of the nineteenth century. Their educational ideas and methods 
are set forth in The Conduct of Schools, first issued in 1720. 

The conception of education as well as the control exercised 
was thoroughly religious. Both in the control of the order and in 
the conduct of schools the spirit of asceticism was very marked. 
The rule of the schools most emphazised for both pupils and 
teachers was that of keeping silence. Punishment was to be 
used instead of reprimand, signals instead of commands, 
written work was emphasized and so far as possible restrictive 
and repressive measures were to be brought to bear upon the 
child. The subjects of study in the schools were the ordinary 
elementary curriculum : reading, writing, arithmetic, and 
religious instruction. These schools resemble those of the 
religious associations of England, previously mentioned, in the 
freedom from tuition charges and in their dominant religious 
purpose and spirit. 



The Reformation 213 

However narrow and repressive the spirit of the schools and Their im- 
the character of the method when compared with the freer spirit flug^nc^e q^' 
of the Protestant elementary schools, the scheme of the order the training 
was far superior in two respects. These were the training of ° *^^^ ^'^^ 
the teachers and the grading and method of instruction. In 
these respects they made the first general approach to modem 
standards. One of the greatest defects of the times, especially 
of the elementary schools, was the very inferior character of 
the teaching body. This was due partly to taking the conduct 
of the schools from the immediate control of the Church and 
partly to the unsettled social condition of the times. No longer 
drawn from the clergy, who had at least some education and 
no distracting interests, the teachers in the elementary schools 
were largely made up of church sextons, disabled soldiers, 
village cobblers, or various persons whose chief occupation 
was either sedentary or lasting for part of the year only. As 
early as 1685 the Christian Brethren opened what was prob- 
ably the first institution for the training of elementary teachers. 
All the members of the order were to be professionally trained 
for their work. In other normal schools, founded later, primary 
schools for practice teaching were incorporated. The excellent 
example thus given waited long for any general imitation. 

The improvement made in the method of instruction was in and on the 
the substitution of a simultaneous or class method of recitation ^^f^^ ^f^°^ 

of recitation 

for the prevailing individual method. Usually, each child was 
instructed by most laborious methods in the alphabet, simple 
words, elementary reading and writing and rudiments of all 
the elementary branches. Even in the Jesuits' schools, while 
the classes were divided into groups under decurions for general 
discussion, each student finally recited in person to the master. 
Some similar modification of the monitorial system was 
adopted in most of the English and many of the German Latin 
schools. The plan of class recitation, as a systematic method, 
the essential feature of all modem schools, was first brought into 
general use by the Brethren of the Institute. This as a matter 



214 Brief Course in the History of Education 

of necessity required a more careful grading of the schools than 
the pre\dous one, based upon classification of subject-matter 
only. 

SUMMARY 

The Reformation was the Renaissance in the North, directed toward 
reforms in society and in the Church. It had both a moral and an in- 
tellectual or theological phase. In this latter respect it exalted the use 
of individual judgment. Consequently the division of the Church was 
unavoidable, since such sectarian divisions were based upon fundamental 
differences in the mental make-up of men. The earlier educational 
effect of the Reformation, continuing the early Renaissance tendencies, 
was to emphasize reason, the right of private judgment, and the necessity 
of familiarity with original literary material as the source of true ideas. 
Owing to the formation of many sects and the resulting conflicts between 
them as well as with the parent Church, the educational influence tended 
towards a new formalism little different from the old scholasticism. To 
the dominant humanistic content religious material was added. The 
chief immediate result of the Reformation in Protestant countries was 
the transfer of the schools to the control of the state, the building up of 
state systems, and the development of the idea of universal education 
based upon the necessity of reading the Scriptures, catechisms and other 
religious literature. While all Reformation leaders were concerned in 
the development of this new conception and organization of education, 
Luther was the most important. His views are much broader than those 
of his followers. Melanchthon put these views into practical operation, 
through the training of teachers, the writing of texts, and the organiza- 
tion of schools and of the Saxony system. The universities and human- 
istic schools, though nominally under state or independent organization, 
were really under control of the Church. First in Germany, then in 
Holland, Scotland, New England and other Protestant states, public school 
systems were developed during the seventeenth century. To the Reforma- 
tion, then, we owe our idea of universal, elementary education and also 
the early realization of this idea. 



ment of the 
scientific 



CHAPTER VIII 

REALISTIC EDUCATION 

WHAT IS REALISM?— This term is applied to that type of Emphasis 
education in which natural phenomena and social institutions "p^'^p^^; 

^ . nomena of 

rather than languages and literature are made the chief subjects nature and 
of study. This movement in human thought became prominent °nstit"d 
and first profoundly affected educational thought and practice 
during the seventeenth century. In a true sense it was merely 
the further development of the Renaissance. The dominant 
interest in progressive thought in the fifteenth century was Adeveiop- 
personal and -cultural and hence revealed itself in literary and 
aesthetic forms. During the sixteenth century this dominant aspect 
interest was moral and reformatory and hence became chiefly naissance' 
religious and social. But during the seventeenth century the 
same intellectual interests and forces became impersonal, and The earliest 
directed towards philosophical and scientific problems. Modem ^oje^^n 
philosophical and scientific thought here takes its rise. Con- science 
sequently the educational aspect of the movement, here termed 
sense-realism, may quite as appropriately be termed the early 
scientific movement. / 

Two phases of realistic thought in education developed before Two earlier 
the growing interests in the natural sciences had begun to influ- reafSic^ ^'^ 
ence the educational theory. These are termed humanistic, or development 
literary, realism and social realism. Each type had many devo- 
tees and found at least some expositors. In order to under- 
stand the details of these earlier movements of thought, a few 
of these exponents will be considered. They are not formu- 
iators of anything new, but are expositors of widely accepted 
views and practices. In the case of the more scientific move- 

215 



2i6 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Humanistic- 
realism was 
a later Re- 
naissance 
survival of 
the idea of 
a liberal 
education 



"Realistic" 
knowledge 
gained 
through lit- 
erature. That 
is, literature 
studied for 
its content 



ment, the educators here considered performed a vital part in 
the development of thought and in the shaping of practice. 

§ I. HUMANISTIC- REALISM 

THE CONCEPT OF EDUCATION. — Humanistic-realism is 
the reproduction during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries 
of a view of education characteristic of the earlier Renaissance 
period and now representing a protest against the dominant 
education of the narrow humanistic type. The humanistic- 
realists and the narrow classical humanists agreed in looking 
upon the classical languages and literatures as the sole object of 
study, or at least the sole means to an education. To both, this 
literature represented the highest achievement of the human 
mind and contained not only the widest product of human in- 
telligence, but practically all that was worthy of man's attention. 
Yet there existed a fundamental difference in their purpose of 
study. We have previously considered the purpose and the spirit 
of the study of the narrow classicists (pp. 170-4). Their object 
was to form young Romans, to produce a newer Latium. 

The purpose of the humanistic-realist was to master his own 
environing life, natural and social, through a knowledge of 
the broader life of the ancients. But this could be gained only 
through a wide acquaintance with the literature of the Greeks 
and Romans. Mastery of form was important only so far as it 
was a key to the realities of thought. Study itself was not all of 
education. Physical, moral, social development formed com- 
ponent parts. The formal routine of linguistic discipline gave 
way to a broad and appreciative study of literature. It might 
even be necessary to resort to the practical study of life around 
one, but after all only for the purpose of a clear understanding of 
the text itself. For, when understood, literature was a safer and 
a more comprehensive guide to life than a direct study of that 
life. 

REPRESENTATIVE HUMANISTIC-REALISTS. — Since this 
view was developed in opposition to the narrow humanism, its 



Realistic Education 217 

representatives are found among the leaders of the later Re- Erasmus 
naissance. Erasmus, who lived to see and to combat this re- ^^p^^^"*^ 

' _ this view 

strictive tendency, gives one of the clearest presentations of the 
position of the humanistic- realist in his System 0} Studies. His 
position may be summed up in a few words: " Knowledge 
seems to be of two kinds, that of things and that of words. That 
of words comes first, that of things is the more important." 
The views of Erasmus, however, are too broad to be classified 
through this one writing. The representative humanistic- 
realists are of at least a generation or even a century 
later. 

Rabelais (1483-1553) is the better exponent of this view and Rabelais the 
the one usually selected as representative. The educational im- ^j-gsgntat^jve' 
portance of Rabelais comes, not from any immediate and concrete 
influence on schools, but from the influence his ideas exerted 
upon Montaigne, Rousseau and Locke. Though a university man 
and scholar, Rabelais was a trenchant satirist on the humanistic 
tendencies and the learning of his time. His great work con- 
sisted in combating the formal, insincere, shallow life of the 
period, whether in state or Church or school. This satire, 
couched in most violent and exaggerated form, yet contains the Character of 
truth of most of the reformatory aspirations of the sixteenth ^ionli writ- 
century. Consequently, the dominant education of words, ingsand 
instead of realities, meets his most forceful condemnation. In 
place of the old linguistic and formal literary education he 
advocated one including social, moral, religious and physical 
elements; one that would lead to freedom of thought and of 
action instead of the complacent dependence on authority, 
whether of schoolmen, classicists or churchmen. His training 
in medicine led him to give unusual emphasis to the developing 
sciences. It is true, according to his views, that almost all of 
education was to be gained through books; but it was through 
mastery of their contents and for practical service in life. 
Studies were to be made pleasant ; games and sports were to be 
used for this purpose as well as for their usefulness in the physical 



2 1 8 Brief Course in the History of Education 

development of the child and for their practical bearing on his 
duties later in life; attractive rather than compulsory means 
were favored. In the closing part of a letter from the giant 
Garguantua to his son, the hero of the satire, concerning his 
education, the entire scope of his teachings can be given. 

"I intend, and will have it so, that thou learn the languages perfectly. 
First of all, the Greek, as Quintilian will have it; secondly, the Latin; 
and then the Hebrew, for the holy Scripture's sake. And then the Chaldee 
and Arabic likewise. And that thou frame thy style in Greek, in imita- 
tion of Plato; and for the Latin, after Cicero. Let there be no history 
which thou shalt not have ready in thy memory; and to help thee therein, 
the books of cosmography will be very conducible. Of the liberal arts 
of geometry, arithmetic, and music, I gave thee some taste when thou 
wert yet little, and not above five or six years old; proceed further in 
them and learn the remainder if thou canst. As for astronomy, study 
all the rules thereof; let pass nevertheless the divining and judicial as- 
trology, and the art of Lullius, as being nothing else but plain cheats and 
vanities. As for the civil law, of that I would have thee to know the texts 
by heart, and then to compare them with philosophy. Now in matter 
of the knowledge of the works of nature, I would have thee to study that 
exactly; so that there be no sea, river, or fountain, of which thou dost 
not know the fishes; all the fowls of the air; all the several kinds of shrubs 
and trees, whether in forest or orchard; all the sorts of herbs and flowers 
that grow upon the ground; all the various metals that are hid within 
the bowels of the earth ; together with all the diversity of precious stones 
that are to be seen in the Orient and south parts of the world; let nothing 
of all these be hidden from thee. Then fail not most carefully to peruse 
the books of the great Arabian and Latin physicians; not despising the 
Talmudists and Cabalists; and by frequent anatomies get thee the per- 
fect knowledge of the microcosm, which is man. And at some hours 
of the day apply thy mind to the study of the holy Scriptures: first in 
Greek, the New Testament with the Epistles of the Apostles; and then 
the Old Testament, in Hebrew. In brief, let me see thee an abyss and 
bottomless pit of knowledge: for from henceforward, as thou growest 
great and becomest a man, thou must part from this tranquillity and 
rest of study; thou must learn chivalry, warfare, and the exercise of the 
field, the better thereby to defend our house and our friends and to succour 
and protect them at all their needs against the invasion and assaults of 
evil-doers. Furthermore I will that very shortly thou try how much 
thou hast profited, which thou canst not better do than by maintaining 



Realistic Education 219 

publicly theses and conclusions in all arts, against all persons whatsoever, 
and by haunting the company of learned men, both at Paris and 
elsewhere." 

John Milton (160S-1674), the poet, published in 1644 a Milton's 
brief Tractate on Education which remains one of the best ex- ■^'/'^'"/f' "" 

Education 

prcssions of the views of the humanistic-realists. His first represents 
objection to the dominant education was that against the method j. ^j^'J-^j^^^^^'^' 
of approaching the subject through formal grammar and no less 
formal exercises in composition. Secondly, granting that this 
evil should be removed, he held that a greater one existed in 
the custom of directing the entire attention of the student to the 
mastery of the formal side of the language, without any atten- 
tion to the literary or content side. Again, granting an im- 
provement in this respect, his linal objection was that all of 
education was not contained in the languages and literature of the 
Greeks and Romans. 

There follows a truly marvelous analysis of the work of Course of 
the school that is to provide for the boy's education from twelve study recom 

^ -' mended by 

to twenty-one. For the first year the boy was to receive the usual Milton 
training in Latin grammar, together with arithmetic, geometry 
and moral training. Then followed the study of agriculture 
through Cato, Columella, Varro; of physiology through Aris- 
totle and Theophrastus; of architecture through Vitruvius; 
of natural philosophy through Seneca and Pliny; of geography 
through Mela and Solinus; of medicine through Celsus. This 
study of the natural and mathematical sciences was to be sup- 
plemented by reading the poets who treated of cognate subjects. 
This list included such as Orpheus, Hcsiod, Theocritus, Aratus, 
Nicander, Oppian, Dionysius, Lucretius, IManilius, Virgil and 
others. Thus the Greek and Latin languages were to be 
learned incidentally to the mastery of the content of the literature. 
In the following stages, ethics, economics, politics, history, the- 
ology, Church history, logic, rhetoric, composition, oratory, 
were to be mastered through the appropriate authors. In this 
manner, the political orations and treatises, the tragedies, the 



2 20 Brief Course in the History of Educaticn 



Milton's 
definition of 
education 



Effect of 
humanistic- 
realism 
found in 
work of 
superior 
teachers. 
It was not 
character- 
istic of par- 
ticular 
schools 



histories, the poetry of the Greeks and Romans, were given place 
in this capacious programme. And not in the Greek and Latin 
only, for all of this necessitated the command of Hebrew, 
Chaldee, Syriac and Italian, the last acquired " at any odd hour." 
The prodigious scope of school work which Rabelais suggested 
in jest or for the race was incorporated by Milton into the pro- 
gramme of a school. 

One permanent contribution made by Milton to education is 
found in the notable definition which he formulated. While the 
form is that of the seventeenth century, the spirit is that of all 
times. " I call therefore," he says, " a complete and generous 
Education that which fits a man to perform, justly, skillfully 
and magnanimously all the offices both private and public of 
Peace and War." 

THE EFFECT OF HUMANISTIC REALISM ON SCHOOL 
WORK is necessarily a thing which cannot be estimated or 
traced. It was not characterized by any great external differ- 
ence from the dominant humanism cither in content or method; 
certainly not by any difference in organization or administration. 
Its direct influence on schools was only that exerted by individual 
teachers and individual programmes. Rare teachers and in- 
frequent schools kept alive these traditions; but the dominant 
classicism overshadowed all other tendencies in school work. 
Naturally, since with the higher stages the formal language was 
at least mastered, the realistic spirit flourished more in the 
universities than in the lower schools. Yet the dominant 
character of the work of these higher institutions was, as has 
been {)reviously noted, formal, artificial, and more or less per- 
functory and traditional. The chief importance of humanistic 
realism is that it led directly to the sense-realism that soon found 
a place in organized educational work. 



§ 2. SOCIAL- REALISM 

THE EDUCATIONAL CONCEPT. —This term social- 
realism is adopted to indicate a view of education held by 



Realistic Education 2.i\ 

various educators in previous centuries, but more generally Sodai-reai- 
accepted during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and c^^jonTor ^' 
then also most clearly expressed in theory. Its advocates practical 
looked upon the humanistic culture at its best as an inadequate ^oj-id- usu- 
preparation for the life of the gentleman. Its great representa- aUy an edu- 
tive, Montaigne, said in this connection: " If the mind be not the gentry 
better disposed by education, if the judgment be not better 
settled, I had much rather my scholar had spent his time at 
tennis. . . . Do but observe him when he comes back from 
school, after fifteen or sixteen years that he has been there; 
there is nothing so awkward and maladroit, so unfit for company 
and employment ; and all that you shall find he has got is, that 
his Latin and Greek have only made him a greater and more 
conceited coxcomb than when he went from home." 

Education should shape the judgment and the disposition importance 
so as to secure for the youth a successful and pleasurable career jj^g^^ ^^^_ 
in life. This view regarded education, in the frankest and most tact with 

socictv 

utilitarian manner, as the direct preparation for the life of the 
" man of the world." Holding a view as far as possible from a 
high idealism, or a rigid asceticism, or a fervid emotionahsm, 
these educators looked with unconcealed skepticism upon the 
ordinary routine of the school and the accepted opinion of 
humanistic studies. To them, education should be a frank pre- 
paration for a practical, serviceable, successful, happy career of 
a man of affairs in a civilization formal enough in its pretenses, 
but not over rigid in its standard of conduct. To them the more 
important fact of education was a period of travel for the sake 
of acquiring experience and familiarity with men and customs. 
Through travel one would acquire practical knowledge and the 
culture which comes from actual contact with places and people 
made familiar through literary study. 

MONTAIGNE VS. ASCHAM CONCERNING REALISTIC This custom 
SOCIAL EDUCATION.. — With many writers throughout the SSrougr'"" 
course of the history of education, one finds an acceptance of the travel, of 
view that a period of travel and the consequent broadening of standing 



2 22 Brief Course m the Histor 



%cation 



one's views and one's experience form the propci conclusion of 
a long course of study. After the practice of sending Roman 
youths to Greece to complete their education had become quite 
common, Quintilian discusses this question. Ascham devotes a 
considerable portion of his Schoolmaster to a condemnation of 
this practice and this conception of education which was quite 
common among the gentry. In general, he objects that "Learn- 
ing teaches more in one year than experience in twenty; and 
learning teaches safely, when experience maketh more miser- 
able than wise." In the concrete, his objections are that " a 
young gentleman, thus bred up in this goodly school, to learn 
the next and ready way to sin, to have a busy head, a factious 
heart, a talkative tongue, fed with a discoursing of factions, led 
to contemn God and his religion, shall come home into England 
but very ill-taught, either to be an honest man himself, a quiet 
subject to his prince, or willing to serve God under obedience 
of honest living." This conservative English view of the result 
of grafting Italian and worldly culture on the native English 
robustness .was not the common one among the gentry — who 
alone as a class provided an education for their children. This 
is one side only of the picture. . Hear Montaigne describe the 
other. 

"That he may whet and sharpen his wits by rubbing them upon those 
of others, I would have a boy sent abroad very young. . . . This great 
world, which some multiply as several species under one genus, is the 
true mirror wherein we must look in order to know ourselves as we should. 
In short I would have this to be the book my young gentleman should 
study with most attention. Many strange humours, many sects, many 
judgments, opinions, laws, and customs, teach us to judge rightly of our 
own actions, to correct our faults, and to inform our understanding, which 
is no trivial lesson. ... In these examples a man shall learn what it 
is to know, and what it is to be ignorant; what ought to be the end and 
design of study; what valour, temperance, and justice are; what differ- 
ence there is between ambition and avarice, bondage and freedom, license 
and liberty; by what token a man may know true and solid content; 
to what extent one may fear and apprehend death, pain, or disgrace, '£< 
quo quemque modo jugiasque ferasque laborem. (And what one may avoid, 



Realistic Education 223 

and what must undergo.)' He shall also learn what secret springs move 
us, and the reason of our various irresolutions; for, I think, the first 
doctrines with which one seasons his understanding ought to be those 
that rule his manners and direct his sense; that teach him to know him- 
self, how to live and how to die well. Among the liberal studies let us 
begin with those which make us free; not that they do not all serve in 
some measure to the instruction and use of life, as do all other things, 
but let us make choice of those which directly and professedly serve to 
that end. If we were once able to restrain the offices of human life within 
their just and natural limits, we should find that most of the subjects 
now taught are of no great use to us; and even in those that are useful 
there are many points it would be better to leave alone, and, following 
Socrates' direction, limit our studies to those of real utility." 

Studies are not condemned, but they are subordinated. Subordinate 
They are only means, partial and insufficient at best, to an end p°^'^.'°'^ °^ 
which lies wholly beyond and without them. The end is found 
in character, — in the practical, successful, efficient, useful and 
happy life of action. In this sense the ideal is a moral, not an 
intellectual one ; but it is moral in a matter of fact, utilitarian 
sense. Herein the Renaissance conception of education is 
exalted; but the Renaissance means to that end is rejected, 
just as in the narrow humanistic education the means was 
accepted but the end unappreciated and neglected. 

MONTAIGNE'S CONCEPTION OF EDUCATION. —Michael Rejection of 
de Montaigne (1533-1592) presents in his essays 0/ Pedantry, 
0} the Education of Children, and Of the Affection of Fathers to means 
their Children the clearest expression of this view of education. 

Though in all his writings, Montaigne adopted the current Only a su- 
practice of making reference in almost every sentence to the knowledge 
ideas and words of the ancients and thus making a parade of of literature 
his learning, yet he was not a humanist as he is so often classed. ^^'^^^ ^^ 
This very practice, especially as an educational ideal, he fre- 
quently condemns. He granted that a certain amoimt of this 
knowledge was desirable, that " one should taste the upper 
crust of science," but after all merely as an accomplishment 
always to be distinguished from education itself. He inveighed 



Renaissance 
educational 



2 24 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Knowledge 
through 
books of 
little value 



In some re- 
spects agreed 
with sense- 
realists, in 
others not 



Aim of edu- 
cation was 
virtue. 
Montaigne's 
description 
of virtue 



constantly against this misconception of knowledge and of 
education. " We can say, Cicero speaks thus; these were the 
ideas of Plato; these are the very words of Aristotle. A parrot 
could say as much. But what do we say that is our own? 
What can we do? How do we judge? " Such knowledge is 
" like counterfeit coin, of no other use or value but as counters 
to reckon with or set up at cards." For such knowledge that 
came through books and was primarily of books, the greatest 
scorn was expressd, since it had nothing to do with the real 
life of the individual. " A misuse enriched with the knowledge 
of so many things does not become ready and sprightly. A 
vulgar understanding can exist by the side of all the reasoning 
and judgment the world has collected and stored up without 
benefit thereby." 

Montaigne believed in the training of the senses and in physi- 
cal education ; he believed with the ancients that a sound body 
is the basis of a sound mind; he believed that the vernacular 
should come first and should be taught by natural methods. 
Therefore he is often classed with the sense-realists. In these 
respects, indeed, he did agree with them. But he gives no 
emphasis to the study of the natural sciences or of the phenomena 
of nature, and is not concerned at all with knowledge of any kind 
as the end of education. 

The Aim of Education according to Montaigne is Virtue. — 
Montaigne's idea of virtue is expressed in one place as his 
conception of the function of the teacher. The teacher should 

"make his- pupil feel that the height and value of true virtue consists 
in the facility, utility, and pleasure of its exercise, and that by order and 
good conduct, not by force, is virtue to be acquired. . . . Virtue is the 
foster mother of all human pleasures, who, in rendering them just, renders 
them also pure and permanent; in moderating them, keeps them in breadth 
and appetite. If the ordinary fortune fails, virtue does without, or frames 
another, wholly her own, not so feeble and unsteady. She can be rich, 
potent, and wise, and knows how to lie on a soft and perfumed couch.' 
She loves life, beauty, glory, and health. But her proper and peculiar 
of&ce is to know how to make a wise use of all these good things, and 



Realistic Education 225 

how to part with them without concern — an office more noble than trouble- 
some, but without which the whole course of life is unnatural, turbulent, 
and deformed." 

This is not a high idealism; certainly no rigid asceticism. Not a high 
Yet it is a wholesome corrective of the formal morality of the 'deaHsm 
time and of the pedantic scholarship which passed for education. 
It is a frank statement of an honest, if somewhat materialistic, 
morality. If inferior at many points to the abstract, authori- 
tative, and ineffective idealism of the times, it at least was 
practicable and far superior to the actual state of affairs. 

The Content of Education. — Such studies as are needed study what 
can be selected by the same practical or pragmatic principle. ^'^ ^? 
" Among the liberal studies let us begin with those which useful 
make us free; not that they do not all serve in some 
measure to the instruction and rise of life, as do all other things, 
but let us make a choice of those which directly and professedly 
serve to that end." Herein is stated the principle that is com- 
ing to be accepted in modem times. In a story from the Greeks, 
which Montaigne quoted, the same principle is expressed even 
more trenchantly : " Agesilaus was once asked what he thought 
most proper for boys to learn. ' What they ought to do when 
men,' was the reply." He would not have the traditional 
studies entirely neglected. But he held that their impor- 
tance was secondary and depended much upon the method. 
" After having taught your pupil what will make him wise and 
good, you may then teach him the elements of logic, physics, 
geometry and rhetoric. After training, he will quickly make 
his own that science which best pleases him." 

Method of Education. — The principles of method enun- Lessons to 
ciated follow as corollaries from the general conception ^^ " p^^*^" 

T^ 11- 1 • -1 1 • . , . . , ticed," not 

given. Knowledge is to be assimilated, action is to be imitated, "learned" 
ideas are to be realized in conduct. " A boy should not so much 
memorize his lesson as practice it. Let him repeat it in his 
actions. We shall discover if there be prudence in him by his 
undertaking; goodness and justice, by his deportment; grace 
Q 



2 26 Brief Course in the History of Education 



"To know 
only by 
heart is not 
to know 
at all" 



" The art of 
living well" 



Social real- 
ism could not 
be taught in 
schools and 
so had little 
effect on 
schools / 



The germ of 
all modern 
conceptions 
of education 



and judgment, by his speaking; fortitude, by his sickness; 
temperance, by his pleasures; order, by his management of 
affairs ; and indifference, by his palate." Here, again, are given 
both the elements in the ideal and the character of the method. 
The most famous statement of method found in Montaigne 
contains the gist of all his educational ideas. Apropos of the 
traditional verbal instruction, he remarks: "To know by heart 
only is not to know at all ; it is simply to keep what one has com- 
mitted to his memory. What a man knows directly, that will 
he dispose of without turning to his book or looking to his 
pattern." 

The sum total of the views on education, whether of purpose, 
content, or method, Montaigne expresses in words from Cicero : 
"The best of all arts — that of living well — they followed in 
their lives rather than in their learning." 

SOCIAL-REALISM IN THE SCHOOLS. — Social-realism was 
a type of education not to be found widely represented in the 
schools. Schools were too much given up to grammar and 
rhetoric to think much of useful and happy lives; too much 
devoted to cramming the memory to think of training the judg- 
ment. This type of realism rather expressed an educational 
practice, one common with the upper classes of society for these 
centuries in most European countries. It is a conception of 
education which found a presentation in educational writings, 
and claims as its chief representative one of the most charming 
vn-iters of any age and certainly one of the most lovable of 
" pedagogues." 

§ 3. SENSE- REALISM 

THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SENSE-REAL- 
ISM. — This conception of education was formulated during the 
seventeenth century and grew out of and included the character- 
istic phases of the earlier realism previously described. But in 
addition it contained the germs of the modem conception of 
education, whether stated in psychological, sociological or 



Realistic Educatioiz 227 

scientific terms. The term itself is derived from the funda- 
mental belief that knowledge comes primarily through the 
senses. Consequently, education was to be founded on a train- Primary idea 
ing in sense perception rather than on pure memory activities ^^ce"ft°'^' 
and was to be directed toward a different kind of subject-matter, ing in sense 
So far as most of the characteristics mentioned are concerned, and of "study 
the term early scienti'jic movement would be quite as accurate, of natural 
This, however, would not so clearly indicate the connection of ^ ^nomena 
the tendency with previous development. 

For the first time, we find formulated a general theory of Principles of 
education based upon rational rather than upon empirical disTOverable 
grounds. The sense-realists were influenced by the new dis- in nature 
coveries then being made in nature's processes, and the new 
inventions contrived to take advantage of her forces. They 
were imbued with an interest in and a respect for the phenomena 
of nature as a source of knowledge and truth, and held that 
education itself was a natural rather than an artificial process. 
They believed that the laws or principles upon which education 
should be based were discoverable in nature. This belief gave 
rise to two tendencies observable in the work of all the representa- 
tives of this group. The first was that toward the formulation of / 

a rudimentary science or philosophy of education based upon 
scientific investigation or speculation rather than upon pure 
empiricism. The second was a tendency to replace the exclusive 
literary and linguistic material of the school curriculum with 
material chosen from the natural sciences and from contempo- 
rary life. The first tendency constituted the earliest attempt, at 
least since the time of the Greeks, to formulate an educational 
psychology. While several of these men insisted upon the study An educa- 
of the child, and the adaptation of the educational processes to choioBy^^" 
the child, their thought in respect to these educational principles 
was controlled rather by their theory of knowledge and, as with 
Bacon, by their investigation into the manner in which knowl- 
edge was advanced by mankind as a whole. They possessed 
little, if any, knowledge of the development and activities of the 



2 28 Brief Course in the History of Education 



child's mind. They held, however, that the child should acquire 
the idea rather than the form and should understand the object 
before the word, or the word through the object. This view, 
which seems to us a commonplace and self-evident truth, 
constituted for that period a revolution in thought and, so far as 
carried out, one in practice as well. This, moreover, led to 
another innovation. It necessitated the use of the vernacular 
in the earlier school years and thus produced a practical and a 
permanent reform. Both the early Protestant reformers and 
the Port Royalists emphasized the value of the vernacular. 
But its importance was first established on strictly educational 
grounds by the sense-realists. This sense-realistic tendency 
was also the first general educational response to the new 
scientific and philosophic ideas which were the logical outcome 
of the Renaissance movement. 

Along with these tendencies went a corresponding change in 
method. This was the effort toward the formulation of a 
method — the inductive — appropriate to the new subject- 
matter and the new aim. While not grasped at all by the 
earliest realists, the re-formulation of this method constitutes 
the chief claim to greatness of one whom we have here included 
in this group, — Francis Bacon. The educators of this group 
who came later in time than Bacon, all adopted the method of 
induction as the most important key to the solution of all edu- 
cational difficulties. Educationally, this thought developed into 
the idea of a general method, by which all children could be 
taught all subjects, in a way wholly novel. So expeditiously 
was this to be accomplished that instead of the meager results 
of previous times, all children would now be able to master all 
subjects. 

It is necessary, therefore, to refer to one other characteristic 
of seventeenth-century thought in order to understand the work 
and ideas of these sense-realists. In this thought of the great 
possibilities of the new education, they shared in the visionary 
hopes of the times. Disappointed at the failure of either the 



Realistic Education 229 

reform in religion or the recovery of the classical learning to Movement 
bring about any great and rapid social betterment, the thinkers toward the 

,. ri 'ii f ^ ^ • universal 

and writers of the period, who strove for the general improve- organization 

ment of mankind, turned to the new sciences and the new and dissemi- 
nation of 
method for the solution of these evils. This general tendency was knowledge 

termed the " pansophic " movement. Through the universal ^^^''^edthe 

dissemination of knowledge concerning life and nature and by sophic" 

means of the new method, it endeavored to raise the average '"°ve'^ent 

of human attainment, thought and activity to the level reached 

hitherto only by the favored few. 

When unified, reduced and organized by the application of Social re- 

the new method of induction, the sense-realists held knowledge ^°^"^ ^^\ 

' " progress to 

to be comparatively simple. By means of the new method and be the out- 
the previous use of the vernacular all the necessary languages ^a^g^o^h;*^^ 
could be mastered, and within the time and effort allotted to the movement 
mastery of one under the old system. Upon the basis of this 
unified and simplified knowledge which consequently could be 
mastered by every individual, the race could go on in a course 
of discovery, invention and self-improvement. Upon this 
uniform method and content of education they based their 
hopes, first, of a unified language or at least of unified national 
languages; second, upon the unified language, the hopes of a 
unified religion in place of the innumerable dissenting bodies 
then existing ; and upon the unified language and religion, the 
hopes of a unified political life and organization. It is to be 
noted, however, that rationality not authority, was to form the Basis found 
basis of all this. This new education of the seventeenth century Ifo^i^ ^u^ '*^ 
was expressed in the educational v/ritings of the times. How- thority 
ever, it acquired but slight influence upon the schools, and that 
was of very gradual growth. 

SOME REPRESENTATIVE SENSE-REALISTS. — A move- Many repre- 
ment so lasting and so fundamental naturally found expression ^cntatives 

" -' ^ 01 this move- 

in the writings and in the work of many men. Some of these ment 

perceived the new idea in a few of its aspects only, while others 

grasped it in its entirety. Two or three of these representatives. 



230 Brief Cotirse in the History of Education 

who wrote before the philosophy of the movement had been 
formulated by Bacon and Descartes, are quite worthy of study 
if space permitted. Among these are the Frenchman, Peter 
Ramus ; the Spaniard, Ludivico Vives ; the Englishmen, 
Mulcaster, Hoole, Hartlib, Petty, and the philosopher Bacon; 
and above all the Czech, Comenius. 

Richard Mulcaster (1458-1611) was one of the earliest of 
these. He was one of the first to advocate the use of the ver- 
nacular in education, and in 1582 published The Elementarie, 
which entreateth chieflie of the right Writing of the English fung. 
In his work published in the preceding year (1581), entitled Po- 
sitions wherein those circumstances he examined, which are neces- 
sary for the training up of children either for skill in their booke, or 
health in their bodie, he expresses views that entitle him to be 
classed among the reformers of the following century. As a 
reaction against the formal, repressive school work of the times, 
which aimed at the eradication of many of the tendencies and 
activities natural to childhood, Mulcaster held that education 
should not aim either to force or to repress the child. "The 
end of education and training," he wrote, " is to help nature to 
her perfection." Two or three corollaries of great importance 
followed from this view of the nature of education. One was 
that while all children can profit by some elementary training in 
the vernacular, yet on the other hand too many seek the higher 
education in the classical tongues which is not fit for all. An- 
other corollary was that education of both grades should be for 
boys and girls alike. Mulcaster further argued that education 
in the schools is preferable to education by tutors. This latter 
view led to the elaboration of a position that forms one of 
the remarkable previsions of the work. The arguments for the 
training of teachers are fully stated, and, in addition, Mulcaster 
held that the universities should provide for this as for the pro- 
fessions of the law, medicine and the ministry. 
' Francis Bacon (1561-1626) stands highest among those 
who caught a preliminary glimpse of the coming changes in the 



Realistic Education 231 

character of the intellectual life and of education. He pos- Bacon had 
sessed little knowledge of or interest in either educational ]^"o^fgj^^' 
problems or processes and wrote little directly on either question, of or interest 
But Bacon gave to philosophy and to the intellectual life a new ^ork°°^ 
purpose. He rejected the previously accepted aim — the theo- but influ- 
retic formulation of knowledge — in favor of the practical and tk)n^pro-"*^^' 
useful aim. The intellectual life was to be made fruitful, as the foundiy 
old speculation was not, by being made practical. What is true 
of the intellectual life in general, is more true of its method, — 
education. In becoming fruitful, it becomes useful to the many 
instead of attainable only by the few. 

This fruitfulness was to be gained by giving the intellectual Study to be 
life a new foundation, — nature. Neither theology nor meta- f'^*^*^*^^.!^ 
physics, the basis of previous philosophies, but physics was to investigation 
serve as the foundation of the new. Even the moral and political °^ "^^^^^ 
philosophies were to receive new meaning by being founded on, 
or referred to, the natural sciences. In this position Bacon 
foresaw the re-formulation of those sciences on the basis of evo- 
lutionary thought, and paved the way for their eighteenth and 
nineteenth century development. 

The new tendency given to the intellectual life and to educa- Formalism 
tion was away from the formalism of the old learning toward ^•^- ""^f^^^"^ 

"^ " was the con- 

the realism of the new. From dealing with words and abstrac- trast in 



C3 



tions it came to deal with objects and ideas. The tendency of 
the intellectual life was away from the formulation of closed 
systems of thought which were satisfied with definitions and 
abstract formulations. Nor was education directed toward a 
mastery of words and logical power in handling the syllogism 
developed through a discipline in grammatical forms, and in 
" defining," " determining " and " disputing." Intellectually, 
the new tendency in thought was directed toward the formulation 
of fruitful principles of interpretation and methods of investiga- 
tion that could never produce a perfected system of thought. 
Educationally, it was concerned with the entire realm of the 
knowledge of nature and of society and with the use of a method 



education 



232 Brief Course in the History of Education 

that would develop in the individual power of dealing with this 
world of reality. 

Bacon himself was not the first, nor the only one of his times, 
to participate in these tendencies. Copernicus, Vives, Da Vinci 
and others worked immediately before him; Galileo, Descartes, 
Kepler, Grotius, Boyle and others along with him. But Bacon 
of them all seized the whole problem, stated its terms and for- 
mulated its equations. In actual solutions he did less than 
many of the others. 

The first part of Bacon's plan, which was to serve as a model 
for future intellectual endeavor, was to survey human knowledge 
in its existing stage. He designed to construct a chart or map of 
the intellectual world, including not only the previous systems, 
but also those unknown or barren regions which, though ready 
for exploration, had rarely been visited by the human mind. 
This he did in his Advancement of Learning, the only part of his 
plan even approximately completed. The second part of his 
work was to formulate the method for the investigation of 
phenomena. This was the determination of the process by 
which the new edifice was to be erected upon the foundation 
previously laid. This is the Novum Organum, the new method, 
— induction, — opposed to the Organon of Aristotle, which had 
determined the intellectual methods of centuries. Bacon fin- 
ished only a part of this work, but sufficient to give a profound 
and determining influence to all modem thought. 

The Educational Influence of Bacon may be briefly summed 
up under the aim and subject-matter of education, and the new 
method. 

Aim and Subject-matter. — Bacon's aspiration for a reor- 
ganization of the entire realm of human knowledge such as would 
serve for the improvement of human welfare, by basing it not 
upon the old literary knowledge which concerned itself with man, 
but upon the new scientific knowledge which concerned itself 
with nature, was shared by many philosophers, educators and 
statesmen of his time. This was the " pansophic " ideal of the 



Realistic Education 233 

seventeenth century. They held that when knowledge was 
based upon the uniformity of nature instead of upon the varia- 
bility of man, it dealt with laws and principles that could be 
investigated and determined by definite methods, not by guess- 
work. Moreover, it dealt with forces that could be controlled and 
used for human progress. Such knowledge must be derived 
primarily from a study of the phenomena of nature. Only in a 
secondary sense could it be gained from the language, the litera- 
ture, the philosophy and the theology of past generations. Education to 
Education through the schools should secure the dissemination semination 
of this knowledge, because when unified it would be within the of knowledge 
grasp of every child. 

Within the centuries since the opening of the Renaissance, intellectual 
man's empirical knowledge of the material universe and his gj^o^i^f^r 
power over it had been marvelously expanded. The world cede and 
of thought had not kept pace with this. The problem, to Bacon, ^^f^ ^' 
was to expand the intellectual world until it should not only 
correspond to and keep pace with this development, but should 
precede it. He considered that it was dishonorable that " the 
boundaries of the intellectual world should be confined to the 
discoveries and straits of the ancients." Consequently, study 
was to be directed toward the phenomena of nature as the only 
means of bringing about this equilibration between practical 
opportunity and Imowledge. With his followers this new and 
productive kind of knowledge was to be made the subject- 
matter of school work. This was because such knowledge was 
the only real and fruitful knowledge, because such knowledge 
made up the bulk of the whole pansophic scheme of thought, 
and because the renovation of society was thus to be brought 
about. This is the earlier form of sense-realism in education. 
The principle that knowledge came only through the senses was 
not yet fully formulated in its modem meaning. 

Education was now regarded as not merely of religious or New social 
practical value to the individual, but was accorded a hitherto ^o g^ducatbn 
unknown social value. Education, as science itself, was with 



2 34 Brief Course in the History of Education 

Bacon but a means to an end, — the dominance of man over 
things. " Human science and human power coincide." To 
such knowledge and to such power, there was no limit. If the 
expectations of these men led by the pansophic ideal appear to 
us now as wholly visionary, no less so to their own times did 
those specific instances of the expansion of human power, 
through knowledge of nature, which were clearly foreshadowed 
by Bacon and have been realized only in the present. 

Little explicit reference is made in any of Bacon's works to 
the particular bearing of his general ideas concerning knowl- 
edge on concrete educational work. However, the closing 
portion of his incomplete Utopia, The New Atlantis, is devoted 
to a description of the ideal educational institution, the investigat- 
ing university, called Solomon's House. In this work much 
that universities, scientific departments of governments, and 
learned investigators now do, and much besides in a scientific 
way that is yet in the realm of unachieved human aspiration, 
is foreshadowed. The modification of species, animal and 
plant; curative methods, through hypodermic serum infusions; 
the modification of metals, as in steel; the transformation of 
various forms of energy ; the steam engine; communication at a 
distance, — were some of these remarkable previsions of scientific 
innovations. Yet even here it is the spirit and the principle 
rather than the detail that is significant. 

Method. — " There are," says Bacon, " and can be, only two 
ways for the investigation and discovery of truth. One flies from 
the senses and particulars to the most general axioms, and from 
these principles and their infallible truths determines and dis- 
covers intermediate axioms. And this is the way now in use. 
The other constructs axioms from the senses and particulars, by 
ascending continually and gradually, so as to reach the most 
general axioms last of all. This is the true way, but it is yet 
untried." With the old method of thought, the entire process 
is controlled by its starting point, which is an axiom, a thing 
given or determined. With the new method, the entire process 



Realistic Education 235 

is controlled by the goal to be reached, which is a problem to be 
solved by investigation of particulars. With this method the 
particulars are discoverable by observation, not given by author- 
ity; the problem is solved and the principles are determined by 
induction. The practical goal, beyond the scientific problem, 
is reached by the application of the principle through the 
deductive process to the practical problem. The result is an not the ex- 
invention, — the practical application of knowledge to human *^^"^^V 
welfare and power. This is the complete circle of Baconian 
thought involving both methods. Only the deductive method 
is secondary. 

Striking advance had been made in Bacon's time and most 
of it had come as a result of accidental discovery, as with the 
compass, gunpowder, the telescope and the printing press. 
Bacon aimed to change this chance to design. " For chance 
works rarely and tardily and without order; but art constantly, 
rapidly, and in an orderly manner." The new method, the art formulated 
of discovery, was formulated in the Novum Organum. Bacon '" ^^^ 
stated the logic of the new thought, as Aristotle did that of the Organum 
old. The goal which Bacon held to be of sole value was power 
over nature. Knowledge of nature was the source of all such included ob- 
power. Observation, investigation, experimentation, was the ^eslf'ation"' 
sole method of reaching that knowledge. This knowledge and experi- 
could not be obtained by the old scholastic method, that of °^^"t^t^°° 
definition and of the syllogism. These methods were valid 
enough for the truths which they sought, but the truths thus 
discovered were to Bacon not worth the search. Nor did / 

Bacon hold to the nominalistic formula, " only that is in the 
intellect which first is in the senses," or to its modem restatement / 
as a determinant of all method; for he held that the senses 
unchecked were particularly unsafe guides. Neither the senses, 
as seen in the case of a test of temperature, nor the understand- 
ing, as in the long-accepted Ptolemaic explanation of the mo- 
tions of the earth and the sun, are safe guides when left to them- 
selves. Truth is not reached by the mere accumulation of 



236 Brief Course in the History of Education 



similar instances. A generalization reached inductively is 
not valid unless tested by the " negative instance " ; for one such 
instance to the contrary will counterbalance the weight of any 
number of a positive character in the establishment of a uni- 
versal law or principle such as are those of nature. 

The difficulties in the way of the employment of the proper 
method and the discovery of loiowledge worthy of human 
endeavor, Bacon termed *' idols " {Novum Organum, xxxix). 
He classified them as idols of the tribe, those that " have their 
foundation in human nature as such, and in the tribe and race 
of men "; idols of the den, or the personal bias of the individual; 
idols of the market place, or those which arise from the manners, 
customs and usages of men in their social intercourse; and 
idols of the theater, those which depend upon doctrines, dogmas 
and traditions. Now invention and progress are only secured 
by an interpretation of nature without the intervention of any 
of these idols, consequently only by the scientifically guarded 
inductive method. Then we come to know things as they 
really are, not merely as popularly represented. This is the aim 
of science, of philosophy, of education. 

But this method has one more scientific relation to educa- 
tional work, made not by Bacon, but his followers. Bacon in his 
method was not thinking of the subjective process, the psycho- 
logical bearing of his great idea, but merely of its objective 
value. He was concerned in showing how the race as a whole 
could come into the possession of that knowledge which would be 
of permanent benefit to itself, and in indicating the tests of real 
knowledge. But in showing how it is that we know, he by 
inference indicated how it is that the individual comes to know 
and also how the individual should be taught. Bacon himself 
was interested primarily in the subject-matter of thought and the 
possible outcome of it ; only secondarily in the process of thought. 
But as method elaborated by Bacon revolutionized the scientific 
knowledge of the race and led to unprecedented progress, so 
its educational application, as made by his followers, in time 



Realistic Education 237 

revolutionized school method. The specific application of these 
we are to see later. 

BacofCs Place in Education, as in the history of human A formula- 
thought, is usually either much exaggerated or undervalued, discoverer 
On the one hand he was not the discoverer of a new method of 
thought, for he had predecessors as well as colaborers. He 
formulated this method, however, showing that hitherto nature 
had been rather anticipated by happy chance than interpreted 
by certain method. Nor on the other hand was he a man who 
simply repeated what was a time-worn familiarity with all great 
thinkers. He showed that, while all men have experience and 
guide their conduct by it, experience not scientifically tested 
has far less value than explicit discovery through scientific 
method. Nor is he to be charged with the narrowness of some 
of his followers in exalting one phase of the thought process to 
the exclusion of all others, or identifying the test of knowledge 
with the source from which all knowledge is obtained. 

Wolfgang Ratke^ (Ratichius or Ratich), who lived from 1571 Ratke first 
to 1631;, first formulated in educational terms those ideas con- l^^'^^A^ 
ceming the new subject-matter of study and the new methods of principles to 
investigation that were a part of the new spirit of the early seven- methods"^ 
teenth century and were first definitely formulated by Bacon. 
In an address to the Diet of the German Empire at Frankfort, 
in 16 1 2, Ratke claimed: (i) By his new method to be able to 
teach Latin, Greek and Hebrew tongues more thoroughly and 
in a much shorter time than had hitherto been devoted even to 
the one; (2) by use of the vernacular as the basis for instruction, 
to give to all children a thorough knowledge of all the arts and 
sciences; (3) through the continual use of the vernacular and the 
new methods to bring about the use of one language among all 
the German people in place of the multitudinous dialects, and 
thus to lay the basis in the uniform language for uniformity in 

* A more adequate treatment is given in the translation of Von Raumer, in 
Barnard's German Teachers and Educators, pp. 319—347. This is condensed 
in Quick's Educational Reformers, Ch. IX. 



238 Brief Course in the History of Education 



religion and ultimately for uniformity in government. Ratke 
failed, however, of the success in the practical application of his 
ideas that he attained in their theoretical presentation on ac- 
count of defects in his character and in his personality. 

The thought underlying all the other principles was that 
everything should be done in its natural order, or in the course 
of nature. " Since nature uses a particular method, proper to 
herself, with which the understanding of man is in a certain 
connection, regard must be had to it also in the art of teaching; 
for all unnatural and violent or forcible teaching and learning is 
harmful, and weakens nature." While this was a direct at- 
tempt at a general method, it was not based upon psychological 
principle. It was founded rather upon general and often arti- 
ficial comparisons with the phenomena of nature, or upon purely 
superficial resemblances between the processes of the mind and 
the processes of biological development in plant or in animal. 

Some others of Ratke's principles, important as reformatory 
influences and as permanent truths, can only be suggested: 
each thing should be oft repeated ; everything first in the mother 
tongue; everything without compulsion; nothing should be 
learned by rote; mutual conformity in all things {i.e. com- 
parative grammatical study of the languages) ; first the thing 
itself, and afterward the explanation of the thing; all things 
through experience and investigation or experiment. The 
last of these contains the essentials of the Baconian reforms; 
the next to the last, the essentials of the Pestalozzian reforms; 
all of them are foreshadowings of the Comenian reforms. 

John Amos Comenius (1592-16 70). — Whether considered 
from the point of view of theoretical writings or from that of 
direct treatment of schoolroom problems, Comenius is one 
of the most important representatives of the realistic move- 
ment as well as one of the leading characters in the history of 
education. Nevertheless, his actual influence on his own and 
the following generations was slight save in one respect. 
This was in the use of a more scientific method of teaching the 



Realistic Education 239 

languages embodied in the Comenian text-books. For almost 
two centuries even the very knowledge of his most important 
educational writings ceased to exist. Consequently, they had 
little or no influence upon later educational reformers until the 
time of Froebel. Few biographies of educational leaders pos- 
sess more interest; but reference to several excellent works of 
recent publication must answer as a substitute for a study of the 
life of Comenius in these pages. ^ 

Purpose 0} Education. — "The ultimate end of man is Ultimate 
eternal happiness with God," Comenius stated as the primary gJy^°tjo°^ 
principle of the Great Didactic. The purpose of education was found ia 
to assist in attaining this great end. So far, all the educators ^^ '^'°° 
of these centuries agreed. But it was in the conception of 
education as a means that they differed so widely. Hitherto 
education strove for this end by attempting to eradicate Butaradi- 
the natural desires, instincts and emotions, and by furnish- gnt'cJ!i'fe^p-* 
ing an appropriate mental and moral discipline. Comenius tion con- 
worked along an entirely new line, one that ultimately became thesg^g^nds^ 
the path of modem educational endeavor, though with funda- were to be 
mental purposes formulated somewhat differently. With Co- ^^^^ ^ 
menius the ultimate religious end was to be obtained through 
moral control over one's self, and this in turn was to be secured by 
knowledge of one's self, and consequently of all things. Knowl- 
edge, virtue and piety, in this order of their acquisition, were 
the aims of education. What Sturm and the Reformation Emphasis 
educators propounded as isolated ends, Comenius imified in a gLe'cT^' 
logical and psychological relationship, and gave a radically things 
different interpretation of the initial element, — knowledge, 
— the one element relating directly to the school. This advance, 
however, was so radical that it affected vitally every phase of 
education, — content, organization, method and text-books. 

Content of Education. — This change respecting the subject- 
matter of education can best be presented through an explana- 

' Quick, Educational Reformers, Ch. X ; Monroe, W. S. Comenius; Keatinge, 
The Great Didactic, Introduction ; Quick, Comenius. 



240 Brief Course in the History of Educatio7i 



tion of the great purpose and endeavor of the entire life of 
Comenius. His rehgious activity and his contributions to the 
improvement of schoolroom procedure were immediate duties 
which he did not shirk. But both were of subordinate im- 
portance when compared with his greatest aspiration ; namely, 
the complete reorganization of human knowledge, along Baco- 
nian lines, with the consequent expansion of that knowledge and 
of human power and happiness. This pansophic movement of 
the seventeenth century produced many notable attempts at 
reorganization. Of these the Advancement of Learning of 
Bacon and the Encyclopedias of Henry Alsted and of Campanella 
were notable examples. Probably both Alsted and Campanella 
had greater influence on Comenius than did Bacon. This idea of 
the encyclopedic organization of human knowledge was a com- 
mon one throughout the Middle Ages; but the execution at- 
tempted by Comenius and by the pansophic writers of the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was quite different. Co- 
menius's aim was to give " an accurate anatomy of the universe, 
dissecting the veins and limbs of all things in such a way that 
there shall be nothing that is not seen, and that each part shall 
appear in its proper place and without confusion." Previous 
encyclopedias had been mere collections of facts; his was to be 
an arrangement of facts around universal principles, so that in 
all the arts and sciences, starting from the essential point of the 
universal law as a basis, study could proceed from what is best 
known, by slow degrees, to what is less familiar, until all knowl- 
edge was compassed. So in the text-books of Comenius, each 
chapter and each paragraph leads up to the next, and thus 
embodies his universal principle of method. 

The knowledge of physical phenomena was, for him, the most 
important object of study, and the main influence of his teach- 
ings in respect to subject-matter was the introduction of such 
material into the school-books actually used, together with the 
exposition of this idea in all his works. 

Method. — The general thought of a method "according to 



Realistic Education 241 

nature," which Comenius advocated and applied throughout all inductive 
his writings, must be distinguished from that particular part ^£^^"^1 
of it which approximated the Baconian induction and formed partially; 
the basal idea of his text-books. Comenius argued that Bacon's 
method was competent to distinguish truth from falsity, but 
that it applied only to natural phenomena, while pansophy con- 
sidered the entire universe. In the introduction of his first 
pansophic work he states that the three channels through which 
knowledge comes to us are the senses, the intellect and divine 
revelation; and that "error will cease if the balance between 
them be preserved." In The Great Didactic Comenius speci- 
fically states that the principles of that work were formulated 
a priori and does not even mention Bacon in the entire work, held to be 
Essences and principles find place in his philosophy as in that '°^"®"^°*^ 
of the fantastic pseudo-scientists of the Middle Ages. In his 
Physics the world is constituted from the three principles of 
matter, spirit, hght; while the "qualities" of all things are 
consistency (salt), oleosity (sulphur), and aquosity (mercury). 
Yet despite these survivals of the mediaeval, he stands distinctly 
for the study of natural phenomena and the dependence upon 
sense perception as the source of knowledge concerning nature. 

Notwithstanding this partial grasp of the significance of the insight into 
inductive method when applied to the investigation of natural p''^*^*'^^^ 

^^ o schoolroom 

phenomena, when it came to the practical problems of instruc- problems 
tion in the schoolroom, Comenius did clearly see the importance 
of the new method and first applied it to the actual processes of 
instruction. This is a field where Bacon was much more of a 
stranger than was Comenius in the realm of the larger philo- 
sophical and scientific problems. In the chapter on the Method 
of the Sciences Comenius states nine principles of method, which 
must have grown out of his own long experience as a teacher. 
It was the concrete embodiment of these ideas that led to the 
remarkable success of the text-books and to the beginning 
of radical reforms in schoolroom work. They are stated 
thus : — 



242 Brief Course in the History of Education 

1. Whatever is to be known must be taught (that is, by presenting 
the object or the idea directly to the child, not merely through its form 
or symbol). 

2. Whatever is taught should be taught as being of practical applica- 
tion in everyday life and of some definite use. 

3. Whatever is taught should be taught straightforw^ardly, and not 
in a complicated manner. 

4. Whatever is taught must be taught w^ith reference to its true nature 
and its origin; that is to say, through its causes. 

5. If anything is to be learned, its general principles must first be 
explained. Its details may then be considered, and not till then. 

6. All parts of an object (or subject), even the smallest, without a single 
exception, must be learned with reference to their order, their position, 
and their connection with one another. 

7. All things must be taught in due succession, and not more than 
one thing should be taught at one time. 

8. We should not leave any subject until it is thoroughly understood. 

9. Stress should be laid on the differences which exist between things, 
in order that what knowledge of them is acquired may be clear and distinct. 



Text-hooks. — Comenius had been a student of education 
from his early school days. He began to teach upon leaving 
the university, and later combined the supervision of schools 
with his pastoral work. Even when nearly sixty years old 
(1650) he returned to the directorship of the gymnasium. 
Consequently his text-books were not the work of a mere theo- 
rist, but of one who combined, as no one before him had ever 
done, a theoretical knowledge of educational problems, derived 
from contemplation and from study, with the practical ex- 
perience of the schoolroom. 

In 1 63 1, the year before the completion of the Didactica 
Magna, Comenius published the Janua Linguarum, or Gate of 
Languages Unlocked. This was his most famous book and 
alone would have made him a notable character in his own 
century. For many generations the schoolboys of three con- 
tinents thumbed this book as their primer to the languages 
instead of the Donatus and Alexander of preceding generations. 
And very different from these it was, though in some respects 



Realistic Education 



243 



Geometry. 



( 129 ) 
CV. 



GeometrUi. 




^^^^^^^^i^ 



j9 Geometrician 
tntafuretb th height of 
a Tov/er, i . ,^\ z. 
er the dijlance 
of places, 3^ , . . 4, 
tUher 'with a Quadrant, 5. 
or a Jacob's-ftaF, 6. 

He markethoutthf 
Figures of Things, 
with Lifies, 7. 
Ai^gles, 8. 
/?W Circles, 9, 
by a Rule, io» 
« Sqaarf, i r, 
and a pair of Compaflss, 12. 

Ow/ cfthefi arift 
asOv^l, 13. 
/I. Triangle,- 14. 
^ Q^tadrangie, i^, 
^/fi?' dthirfgura*. 



Geimttra 
metrtur altitudtrnm t 
Turrisy. I.-. . .2, 
aut dijfantrqm-^ 
Locorum,. 3 . . * . 4. 
five ^uadrant-e,: 5. 
Hve Radiv, 6, 

Deftgnat 
F igur at Return. 
Litieis, 7. 
Jngulis, ?. 
& Circuits f 9. 
ad Re^ulaf.n, 10. 
Nor mam, II. 
& Circiniiin, 12. 

Ex his.orimuur 
Cylindrus,. l 3 . 
Trigoiits, I4» 
Tetragonuif. .u^* 
54 alias Sgutaj* 



T)»e 



A Page from the Orbis Pictus 

From the twelfth EngUsh edition (London, 1777). Identical with p. 145 of the 
first American edition (New York, 1810). 



244 Brief Course in the History of Education 

not much less difficult. The plan of the book was simple and 
" natural." Starting with several thousand of the most com- 
mon Latin words referring to familiar objects, the plan was to 
arrange them into sentences, beginning with the simplest and 
becoming progressively more complex, and in such a manner 
that a series of related subjects would be presented, the whole 
presenting a brief encyclopedic survey of knowledge as well as 
affording a vocabulary and a working knowledge of simple 
Latin. Each page gave in parallel columns the Latin sentence 
and the vernacular equivalent. The instruction dealt with 
material that, in its elementary form at least, was within the 
experience of the child. 

This text will give a fair conception of the pansophic ideal as 
well as the new tendency in the subject-matter of education. 
The one hundred different chapter headings included such 
subjects as these, introduced in the order given: Origin of the 
World, the Elements, the Firmament, Fire, Meteors, Water, 
Earth, Stones, Metals, Trees and Fruit, Herbs and S^rubs, 
Animals (in several chapters) ; Man, His Body, External Mem- 
bers, Litemal Members, Qualities of the Body; Diseases, Ulcers 
and Wounds; External Senses; Internal Senses; Mind, The 
Will, The Affections ; The Mechanic Arts (in several chapters) ; 
the Home and its Parts ; Marriage ; the Family, State and Civic 
Economy (in several chapters); Grammar, Rhetoric, Dialectic 
and the various branches of knowledge; Ethics; Games; 
Death, Burial, Providence of God ; the Angels. Care was taken 
that every grammatical structure should be presented so that 
a complete grammatical knowledge would be developed in- 
ductively by the skillful teacher. 

In 1633 Comenius published the Vestibulum (Entrance 
Hall) as an easy introduction to the Gate, which, though far 
simpler than the previous formal grammatical texts which were 
impossible of any mastery save a verbal one, had yet proved too 
difficult for beginners. Later, additional texts were added. 
The Atrium was an expansion of the Janua, following the same 



Realistic Education 245 

plan, treating of the same subjects in greater detail, and also 
giving more attention to grammar. An accompanying grammar 
written in Latin was now to be used. In the j&nal book of the 
series, the Palace or the Thesaurus, a summary of Latin literature 
was given. Through selection of various portions of Caesar, 
Sallust, Cicero, etc., the substance of this literature, especially 
as it dealt with subjects of interest from the Comenian point of 
view, could be given with the omission of much of the material 
objectionable to Comenius and certainly detrimental as used in 
the colloquies and school presentations of the times. 

The most remarkable and most successful of all the Comenian OrbisPktus, 
texts was an adaptation of the Janua Linguarum, the Orbis Pic- su^elsM^ 
tus, published in 1657. Li this text the method of dealing with iUustrated 
objects instead of with mere symbols or words was carried to its *^*" °° 
logical conclusion in the introduction of the objects themselves 
by means of pictures. The Orbis Pictus — The World of 
Sensible Things Pictured — was of great importance merely 
as the first illustrated text-book for children. But its method 
of dealing with things and of leading by inductive process to a 
generalized knowledge, was yet more important. While the 
text was substantially that of the Janua, each chapter was 
headed by a rather complicated picture in which the various 
objects were numbered with reference to specific lines in the 
text. A page of this remarkable text is reproduced as indicat- 
ing in a concrete way, when compared with any of the Latin 
grammars then in ordinary use, all the revolutionary educational 
ideals of Comenius. 

The Organization of Schools. — One other phase of these System of 
educational ideas deserves brief mention, that is, the organiza- !5!^of^= 

' ' ° Kinder- 

tion of schools. In this respect, as well as in those previously garten; 
noticed, Comenius was quite two centuries ahead of his con- 
temporaries. Two grades of school were to precede the gymna- 
sium: first, the infant school; second, the vernacular school. 
Previous to the writing of the Didactica, Comenius had written 
The School of the Mother^s Knee, in which there is a remark- 



246 Brief Course in the History of Education 

able foreshadowing of the kindergarten. The purpose of the 
book was to indicate to mothers how they could care for the 
early education of their own children. The pansophic ideals 
control even here. Not only was the infant to be cared for 
physically and to be trained in games, sports and manners, but 
he was to be instructed in history, geography, even metaphysics, 
as well. But by these high-sounding names Comenius meant 
a very feasible and desirable thing; namely, that the child's 
simple experience as to locality, time and causal relationship of 
many events could be and should be made quite definite even 
before the sixth year. All this was independent of formal 
instruction by means of books. The Vernacular School should 
comprise the period from the sixth to the twelfth years. It 
was rather a substitute for than a preliminary to the gymna- 
sium, and was designed for those who could not obtain the 
higher education. As to method and subject-matter, this school 
resembled the Latin School, which followed. Above the 
secondary, or Latin, school was to come the University, where 
every subject could be pursued as in the gymnasium. Above 
the University, reversing the use of terms as we now employ 
them, was the College of Light, an institution for scientific 
investigation of every subject, similar to the Solomon's House of 
the New Atlantis. 

The Great Didactic. — Though Comenius has more than a 
hundred treatises and text-books to his credit, yet they are all 
summed up in his one great theoretical treatise which was one of 
his earliest educational writings. The Didactic Magna was 
completed by 1632, though not published in a Latin translation 
until 1657, and not printed in the language in which it was 
written until the middle of the nineteenth century. This work is 
certainly one of the most remarkable educational treatises ever 
composed. Though essays or books on didactics were among 
the most numerous of the publications of those times, The Great 
Didactic is a striking variant from the ordinary type. Both its 
ideas or principles and its arrangement are modern. On the 



Realistic Ediccation 247 

contrary, the form in which the ideas are expressed, as well as 
the particular interpretations of the method used, are thoroughly- 
colored by the theological character of the age and by the pro- 
fessional training of the author. Yet so sane and far-seeing are 
the precepts of this work that it may now be read with greater 
immediate profit to the teacher, sufficiently intelligent to avoid 
many minor errors, than the majority of contemporary educa- 
tional writings. So broad a foundation is laid for the educational 
development of the succeeding centuries that it is quite worth 
while, in conclusion, to give the entire table of contents. 

1. Man is the highest, the most absolute, and the most excellent of Table of 
things created. contents of 

2. The ultimate end of man is beyond this life. Didactic 

3. This life is but a preparation for eternity. 

4. There are three stages in the preparation for eternity: to know 
one's self (and with one's self all things); to rule one's self; and to direct 
one's self to God. 

5. The seeds of these three (learning, virtue, religion) are naturally 
implanted in us. 

6. If a man is to be produced, it is necessary that he be formed by 
education. 

7. A man can most easily be formed in early youth, and cannot be 
formed properly except at this age. 

8. The young must be educated in common, and for this schools 
are necessary. 

9. All the young of both sexes should be sent to school. 

10. The instruction given in schools should be universal. 

11. Hitherto there have been no perfect schools. 

12. It is possible to reform schools. 

13. The basis of school reform must be exact order in all things. 

14. The exact order of instruction must be borrowed from nature. 

15. The basis of the prolongation of life. 

16. The universal requirements of teaching and of learning; that 
is to say, a method of teaching and of learning with such certainty that 
the desired result must of necessity follow. 

17. The principles of facility in teaching and in learning. 

18. The principles of thoroughness in teaching and in learning. 

19. The principles of conciseness and rapidity in teaching. 

20. The method of the sciences, specifically. 



248 Brief Course in the History of Education 

21. The method of the arts. 

22. The method of languages. 

23. The method of morals. 

24. The method of instilling piety. 

25. If we wish to reform schools in accordance with the laws of true 
Christianity, we must remove from them books written by pagans, ■ or, 
at any rate, must use them with more caution than hitherto. 

26. Of school discipline. 

27. Of the fourfold division of schools, based on age and acquirements. 

28. Sketch of the Mother-School. 

29. Sketch of the Vernacular School. 

30. Sketch of the Latin School. 

31. Of the University, of traveling students, of the College of Light. 

32. Of the universal and perfect order of instruction. 

2^7^. Of the things requisite before this universal method can be put 
into practice. 

EFFECTS OF SENSE-REALISM ON SCHOOLS. — At any 

time, the response made to educational theory by the concrete 

practices of the school is necessarily slow and indirect, for those 

who formulate the advanced theory are seldom those who 

control the schools. The practical administrator is ever loath 

to be considered a theorist, that is, one recognizing a new theory 

instead of practicing an old one; and the teacher is ever loath 

to assume new burdens or form new habits, in learning to do 

old things in a new way. 

Leaders of O^ the Other hand, Ratke, Comenius, even Bacon, were 

this move- merely exponents of a thought movement that was affecting 

nttk co^nnec- many; they were leaders in the formulation of the new thought 

tionwith rather than originators of it. As with these men, so with the 

universities 

other leaders of advanced thought of the seventeenth century, 
their work was performed outside of the university, which had 
little sympathy with the new thought. Neither Descartes, 
Hobbes, Locke or Leibnitz of the philosophers, nor Harvey 
and Boyle of the scientists, nor Bacon as representative of both 
philosophy and science, were in close contact with the universi- 
ties. So it was in the secondary schools and in independent 
institutions that the new ideas were realized. In 16 19 the first 



Realistic Education 249 

academy of natural science was founded at Rostock. Under 
Frederick the Great (r. 1 740-1 786) the Berhn Academy became 
a powerful exponent of the new thought. 

After the close of the Thirty Years' War (1648), the old The old Re- 
academies for the nobles {Ritterakademien, see p. 183) again g^hodsfor 
became influential, and now as exponents of the new ideas, the nobles 
rationalistic and practical, as opposed to the scholastic for- ^y^j^e ^'^^'^^ 
malism of university and gymnasium. This, however, was a realistic 
foreign culture which did not affect at all the masses of the ™°'^^™^" 
people. Here realism found its first exposition, based more 
upon the social-realism of Montaigne and the popular ideals 
of the French aristocracy, then dominant throughout Europe, 
than upon the scientific realism of Bacon and Comenius. 

From the middle of the seventeenth century, the text-books 
of Comenius had come into common use in the gymnasien of 
the German cities, but rather as aids to Latin study than for 
their scientific content. The first schools to embody the realism 
of Comenius, emphasizing more the religious than the scientific 
side, were those of the pietistic movement as it centered around 
Hermann Francke (1663-1727) and Spener (1635-1700). Piet- 
ism was a reaction quite as much against the profligacy and 
extravagance of rationalism as typified in the rilteyakademien 
as against the formalism of the classical schools. But the 
rationalistic and the pietistic schools were at one in their oppo- 
sition to the dominant classicism and formalism, and in their 
advocacy of the realistic studies and the use of the vernacular. 
Beginning in 1692 Francke established, at Halle, a group of The pietistic 
educational and charitable institutions of very wide scope and of ^n°dt™e^°* 
extended influence. With a constituency drawn wholly from schools of 
the middle and lower class people, — -a large orphan asylum body^the^"' 
was a part of the institution, — Francke aimed to combine a realistic 
practical preparation for life and a religious influence with a ^^^^^"^ 
school training necessarily strong in the realistic studies. His 
achievement was a demonstration of Comenian ideals; a com- 
bination of Christianity and practical training, with formal 



250 Brief Course in the History of Education 

school work. A seminary for the training of teachers, instituted 
as a part of his general foundations, assisted materially in the 
spread of his ideas in many schools, especially those of Prussia, 
both of old and new foundations. 

The Real-Schools (Real-Schulen) of Germany, which em- 
body most completely the reahstic educational movement, 
date from 1747. In this year Hecker, a pupil of Francke, 
established at Berlin a school, the curriculum of which included 
the German, French and Latin languages, writing, drawing, 
history, geography, geometry, arithmetic, mechanics, architec- 
ture, religion and ethics. Within a comparatively short time 
the leading commercial cities of the German countries estabhshed 
similar schools. During the later part of the century, under the 
influence of the " naturalistic " movement (Chapter X), these 
schools were incorporated as a component part of the Ger- 
man school system. 

The Academies in England. — In England the introduc- 
tion of the " real studies " was bound up with the history 
of the " academies " which were developed by the nonconform- 
ing churches. The beginning of this movement is connected 
with the humanistic realism of Milton, who styled the institution 
described in his Tractate an academy. With the downfall of 
the Puritan protectorate and the restoration of the Stuart mon- 
archy, the dissenting clergymen, some two thousand in all, were 
expelled from their parishes (1662), and shortly afterward the 
dissenters were excluded from the public schools and the uni- 
versities. This gave both a teaching staff and a constituency to 
a new type of educational institutions. For a time these had but 
an indefinite organization and unsubstantial existence, but after 
the toleration act of 1689 they became a definite part of the 
English educational scheme. Though these, as well as all other 
educational institutions of England, had only an ecclesiastical 
and private support, they continued to perform an ever widening 
function in the educational life of the people. With the dis- 
appearance of religious disabilities, they became indistinguish- 



Realistic Education 251 

able, as a type, in the multiplicity of secondary schools during 
the early nineteenth century. 

As was to be expected, the founders of these institutions of 
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had little sympathy 
with the narrow and restricted education that had produced 
their illiberal persecutors. Hence, the new institutions pro- 
vided for a much broader training through a curriculum that 
included many of the new '' real " studies. Preparation for the 
ministry was yet an important, though by no means the exclusive, Subjects 
purpose of these schools; hence the classical languages formed academies*^ 
a prominent part, if not the foundation, of the course of study. 
To these were added a variety of subjects, varying with the 
institution, including French, Italian, Hebrew, logic, rhetoric, 
ethics, metaphysics, history, economics, oratory, theology, nat- 
ural philosophy, anatomy, geography, geometry, algebra, sur- 
veying, trigonometry, conic sections, celestial mechanics and 
even shorthand. One subject that was given especial emphasis 
in all of these institutions was that of English, and the instruction 
in all of the subjects came to be given in the vernacular. Of 
one academy it is specified that in addition to the usual cur- 
riculum " all the classes were exercised at times in land survey- 
ing, dialling, making almanacks, and dissecting animals." 

Such institutions took the place of both secondary schools and 
universities for the nonconformists, and offered a more direct 
preparation for the practical occupations of life than did the clas- 
sical public schools. For the Church, the university and the 
state, however, the old type of institutions yet served exclusively. 

In America. — With the growth of the minor dissenting Realism 
bodies in the American colonies a similar, though imtil the mid- finds expres- 
dle of the eighteenth century a more rudimentary, institution America 
grew up. These bodies were especially strong in the middle col- through the 

11 1 • • • r 1 1 -r-i . denomina- 

onies, and there these new mstitutions found a home. Even m tionai 
New England the Latin grammar schools began to make pro- academies 
vision for the practical economic interests of the people. In 
most of the seaport towns of all the colonies, branches of practi- 



252 Brief Cotirse in the History of Education 



cal mathematics, especially surveying and navigation, were intro- 
duced by the middle of the eighteenth century. Not until this 
later period, however, was a typical " real-school " introduced 
and the term academy used. This was the "Academy and 
Charitable School of Pennsylvania," later the University of Penn- 
sylvania, which was suggested by Benjamin Franklin in 1743 
and opened in 1751. Three schools were included in this 
academy, a Latin, an English and a mathematical. Franklm's 
writings exalted practical economics into a philosophy of life, and 
did much to further a scheme of education which had much in 
common with the educational theories of the sense-realists. 
While the philosophical basis might have been quite different, 
in its concrete embodiment it was almost identical with the 
" real-school " of Germany. After the Revolutionary War, the 
academies became the typical educational institutions of the 
American states. By this time several other momentous forces, 
besides the realistic educational philosophy, were at work to 
produce revolutionary changes in education. 

The Universities responded much less quickly than the 
secondary institutions to the new educational ideas. The 
theological-classical scholasticism controlled the German uni- 
versities throughout the seventeenth century. But in 1694 the 
University of Halle was founded, chiefly as a protest against 
the narroA\Tiess of the old institutions. Halle is considered the 
first modern university, for here first were the " real " subjects 
taught, with the new methods and in the modem tongue. 
Francke and Thomasius, both of whom had been expelled from 
Leipzig because of their too liberal ideas, made Halle the center 
of the new influence. The custom of using German in the uni- 
versity lecture room, introduced by Thomasius, who also pub- 
lished the first German magazine, soon gained adherents; so 
also did the university teaching of the natural sciences and a 
more liberal philosophy. In fact, the German university ideal 
of " freedom of teaching and freedom of study " first found its 
embodiment in the foundation of Halle. In 1737 the Univer- 



Realistic Educatiofi 253 

sity of Gottingen became a second center of these same in- 
fluences. By the close of the century the conquest of all the 
universities, at least of Protestant Germany, was accomplished. 
The conservative English universities responded much less 
quickly and much less thoroughly to the new influences. During 
the professorship of Isaac Newton (1669-1702) and the head- 
mastership of Richard Bentley (1740-1742), Cambridge was 
given the strong mathematical bent which it has since retained, 
and the mathematical and physical sciences were fostered. 
During the eighteenth century a number of regius professor- English 
ships in history and the sciences were founded by the Georges, rr/omimuch 
But there was no such renovation of the university by the new later 
spirit, as in Germany, until late in the nineteenth century. 

SUMMARY 

The realistic movement is the developmment of the interest in nature found 
in the Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. During the 
seventeenth century this interest received philosophical and scientific formu- 
lation. At this time modern science and modern philosophy began. Edu- 
cationally, however, there were two preliminary stages. One was the Hu- 
manistic Realism, or the study of the classics for their content value. This 
was but a continuation of the idea of a broad liberal education of the 
early Renaissance. It is best represented by Erasmus, Rabelais, and 
Milton. The other was Socialism-realism, or immediate education 
for the practical duties and pleasures of life. This view held schools 
and literary training in low esteem and exalted travel and direct contact 
with the world as the proper educational means. While this conception 
of education had found some representatives at all times, it had peculiar 
force throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and 
is best expressed by Montaigne. Sense-realism was the beginning of the 
modem scientific movement in education, although it contained the germ 
of the psychological and sociological movements as well. Bacon first 
clearly formulated the theory; Comenius gave it practical pedagogical 
embodiment. However, there were many representatives of the movement 
in every country. The German real -schools and the English and American 
academies were the institutional embodiment of this theory. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE DISCIPLINARY CONCEPTION OF EDUCATION. JOHN LOCKE 



The narrow 
humanistic 
education 
ceases to 
have a func- 
tional or 
social value 



By the seven- 
teenth cen- 
tury it had 
become 
traditional 
and its 
technique 
had become 
perfected 



A new theory 
must be 
found to 
justify its 
perpetuation 



ORIGIN OF THE MODERN DISCIPLINARY CONCEP- 
TION. — With the Reformation, Latin ceased to be the language 
of rehgion and of the clergy; similarly, during the later seven- 
teenth century, it ceased to be the exclusive language of the 
universities, of the schools and of learning. Even before this 
time it had been superseded by French as the language of 
diplomacy and of the courts. When, with the development of 
the vernacular literatures, it ceased to be the language of culture 
and of the humanities as well, Latin could no longer dominate 
the schools upon the same basis and for the same reasons that 
it had done hitherto. But by the seventeenth century the 
linguistic and literary curriculum had become traditional, with 
the authority of the learning of two centuries behind it. More- 
over it had developed a scholastic procedure which in details of 
method and of curriculurh, and in the entire technique of the 
schoolroom, had never been equaled by any previous system of 
educational practice. In fact, it has had no equal since. Now 
perfection in the technique of schoolroom procedure is no justi- 
fication for a system of educational practice. Yet, since it has 
behind it to give it stability, both the force of tradition and the 
most tenacious professional conservatism, it is the strongest 
influence working for such a system. 

Consequently, since this narrow humanistic education no 
longer had any direct connection with the practical demands 
of the times and no longer offered the sole approach to a knowl- 
edge of human achievement and thought, a new theory must be 

254 



Disciplinary Conception of Education 255 

found to justify its perpetuation. This new theory was the 
disciphnary conception of education. 

FEATURES ESSENTIAL TO THE CONCEPTION. —The Greater 
essence of the disciplinary conception of education can be given po^tance"of 
in a few words ; namely, that it is the process of learning rather the process 
than the thing learned that is the important and determining t^fng" 
thing in education. learned 

The disciplinary conception takes a great variety of forms. 
But substantially they unite n the one point, namely, that 
a particular activity or experi e, especially of an intellectual A general 
character, if well selected, produces a power or ability out ^v^d^f^o^m 
of all proportion to the expenditure of energy therein. Such certain spe- 
a power when developed will be serviceable in most dissimilar 
experiences or activities, will be available in every situation, 
and will be applicable to the solution of problems presented 
by any subject. More specifically the theory asserted that 
one or two subjects, thoroughly taught and mastered, were 
of much greater educational value than a variety of subjects One or two 
demanding the same amoimt of time and energy. The dis- ^oroughiy 
ciplinarians believed that those subjects which, through the mastered 
generality of their principles, such as mathematics and logic, ^'^ a^m^of 
or through the formal nature of their content and arrange- education 
ment, such as the classical languages, furnished a formal 
training for the va" )us "faculties" of the mind, were of "Faculties" 
supreme importance educationally. This value belonged to °n^o™eason 
such subjects irrespective of their relation to hfe or of their were held to 
final mastery or use by the pupil. It was further impHed, cilump^T- 
so far as the period of complete dominance of this theory was tance 
concerned, that these subjects were peculiarly adapted to 
the development of the memory and the reason, and that 
these " powers of the mind " were preeminently the ones 
demanded for success in any walk of life. 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPTION. — In respect to 
its fundamental principle, the new education was but a revival 
of the formalism of mediaeval scholasticism. To the elaboration 



256 Brief Course in the History of Education 

of the theory a number of factors contributed. The general 
social changes (p. 254) were in themselves the most impor- 
tant of these factors. The new realism emphasized even more 
strongly than had the early Renaissance thought with reference 
to the old scholasticism, that the important thing educationally 
was the thing learned, not the process of learning. The narrow 
humanistic education now adopted, in addition to the argu- 
ments advanced as pecuHar merits of its own, all those formerly 
used for the scholastic education. 

In the second place, the disciplinary education, as it repre- 
sented the continuation of the narrow humanistic education, 
yet retained the almost undivided support of those who viewed 
education from the religious standpoint. As is evidenced in 
the attitude of the Church toward most of the leaders of the 
realistic tendency, notably Descartes, Bacon and even Comenius, 
that movement was looked upon as irreligious and atheistic. 
But from a yet more general reason, and that a pedagogical 
one, the religious view supported the disciplinary conception. 
In fact, since it looked upon education as one process of eradicat- 
ing the essentially evil character of human nature, the religious 
view of education on its pedagogical side was the disciplinary 
one. On the ethical side, then, religious thought furnished 
the theory of the disciplinary education. 

On the psychological side, so far as .hat entered into the 
educational thought of the times, the disciplinary conception 
received the support of the current belief. This was the old 
Aristotelian faculty psychology, with its mediaeval implications,' 
which demanded a training of the various faculties of the 
mind by appropriate disciplines formulated into schoolroom 
procedures. No subject afforded better facilities for this 
than the formal side of language study, unless it was the mathe- 
matical branches to which, consequently, greater importance 
was now attached than formerly. Even the new psychology 
of Bacon and Locke, so far as their theory of knowledge for- 
mulated a psychology, contributed to the prevailing disciplinary 



Disciplinary Conception of Education 257 

view. At least Locke made it so contribute, as will be seen 
subsequently. Wliile the doctrine of innate ideas was re- 
jected by these men in favor of experience, training in sense 
perception did not supersede nor make unnecessary the train- 
ing of the higher faculties. In either case, so far as the popular 
view went, the training was to be a " discipHne." 

So persistent has been this narrow disciplinary view that Survival in 
even when the old rational psychology, based upon intro- psychology 
spective analysis, began to give way or to be supplemented to the pres- 
by a conception of the mind based upon a study of its develop- 
ment, education was still viewed as a process of developing Support 
the " powers " or " faculties " of the mind through appropriate ^°""^ '" 
discipline. This is to be seen in the case of Pestalozzi (p, 312), century 
who first represents this newer view in practical educational jgjf^g^^'^ 
work. Nor was the case different when the natural sciences also 
began to find a place in the work of the schools; for the pursuit 
of such studies was most frequently justified by the arguments 
for their disciphnary value (p. 225). Such undoubtedly has 
been the popular view; the general public believed, at least 
in regard to a college course, that " the great problem in educa- 
tion is how to induce the pupil to go through with a course 
of exertion, in its results good and even agreeable, but im- 
mediately and in itself irksome." 

THE CONTRAST OF TWO MODERN VIEWS. —The na- The great 
ture as well as the force of the disciplinary conception of opposition 

^ , ^ to the disci- 

education is best seen by placing it in opposition to an equally pUnaryview 

one-sided view of education, but one that, on the contrary, ^^^i^i^^t^he 

places the whole emphasis on the thing learned rather than nineteenth 

upon the process of learning. A nineteenth century writer, an"outgro!vib 

Fouillee, in his argument for the disciplinary education of ofthenat- 

the classics as opposed to the content or practical education "Caching 
of the modem sciences, contrasts these views as follows : — 

Huxley proposes to make the natural and physical sciences the basis of 
education. Spencer, in his turn, by a kind of idolatry of science which 
is widespread in these days, makes of positive science almost exclusively 
s 



258 Brief Course in the History of Education 

the subject for youth, under the pretext that, in this Hfe, geometry is neces- 
sary for the construction of bridges and railways, and that in every definite 
trade, even in poetry, w^e must have knowledge. How conclusive is poetry 
as an instance ! Is a Virgil or a Racine made by learning rules of ver- 
sification? The scientific man is not made by teaching him science, 
for true science, Hke poetry, is invention. We can learn to build a rail- 
way by rule of thumb, but those who invented railways did so only by 
the force of the intellectual power they had acquired, and not by the force 
of the mere knowledge they had received; it is therefore in^tellectual force 
that we must aim at developing. And then returns the question: Is 
the best means of strengthening and developing the intellect of our youth, 
to load the memory with the results of modern science, cr is it to teach 
them to reason, to imagine, to combine, *^o divine, to know beforehand 
what ought to be true from an innate sense of order and harmony, of the 
simple and the fruitful, — a sense near akin to that of the beautiful ? 
And, besides, are youths educated to be engineers, or poets? Education 
is not an apprenticeship to a trade, it is the culture of moral and intel- 
lectual forces in the individual and in the race. 



Huxley's 
criticism of 
the disci- 
plinary con- 
ception, 
found in 
" A Liberal 
Education," 
(in Education 
and Science, 
pp. 98, 99) 



On the other hand, Huxley answers this argument by show- 
ing, in somewhat satirical language, that the sciences could 
be so arranged and so taught as to give a disciplinary train- 
ing similar to that given in his times in the pubhc schools. 
Then he says : — 

It is wonderful how close a parallel to classical training could be 
made out of that palaeontology to which I refer. In the first place I could 
get up an osteological primer so arid, so pedantic in its terminology, so 
altogether distasteful to the youthful mind, as to beat the recent famous 
production of the headmasters out of the .field in all these excellencies. 
Next, I could exercise my boys upon easy fossils, and bring out all their 
powers of memory and all their ingenuity in the application of my osteo- 
grammatical rules to the interpretation, or construing, of those fragments. 
To those who had reached the higher classes, I might supply odd bones 
to be built up into animals, giving great honor and reward to him who 
succeeded in fabricating monsters most entirely in accordance with the 
rules. That would answer to verse making and essay writing in the 
dead language. To be sure, if a great comparative anatomist were to 
look at these fabrications he might shake his head, or laugh. But what 
then? Would such a catastrophe destroy the parallel? What, think 
you, would Cicero, or Horace, say to the production of the best sixth 



Disciplinary Conception of Education 259 

form going? And would not Terence stop his ears and run out if he 
could be present at an English performance of his own plays? Would 
Hamlet, in the mouths of a set of French actors, who should insist on 
pronouncing English after the fashion of their own tongue, be more 
hideously ridiculous? 

STRENGTH AND WEAKNESS OF THE THEORY.— Disciplinary 
This theory of education, dominant for so long a period, so gaveTo°con- 
trenchantly attacked in the present, must consequently pre- sideration to 
sent elements of both wealoiess and strength. Among the or^to needs''' -■ 
chief defects was the fact that the special demands which or capacities j 
the various callings or needs of life make upon education students 
received no special consideration. All were to be met by 
the simple turning of the ability generated by the formal train- 
ing of the school into the desired channel. Nor were the 
special aptitudes or inaptitudes of the pupils given any con- 
sideration. Since these studies with their appropriate disci- 
pline furnished the best possible preparation for every obligation 
that life made upon education, those pupils that were unable to 
meet the demands of such a training were ipso facto incapable 
of fulfilling any of these higher offices or functions in life or 
of meeting the requirements of any of its greater opportunities. 

As a consequence, however, it possessed one great merit. Excellent 
Since the educational subjects elected were chiefly those deal- 
ing with abstract ideas, it did furnish valuable training for did give 
a limited class of the intellectually superior, and did develop tj-alnill'g for 
a capacity to deal with those phases of life's activities (law, special 
theology and the like) which were concerned chiefly with classes '^"^^ 
abstract ideas. That such a process of instruction offered 
nothing of value to the great masses of children, was no ob- 
jection to it in an aristocratic society, and in an age before 
the development of democratic sentiment. 

The chief modem argument for the theory has been, that Offered 
such a discipline develops the power of voluntary attention. [)^g j^"a^s*°s of 
But modem psychological thought questions, if it does not children 
positively deny, that there is any such thing as a general power 



social selec- 
tive system 



26o Brief Course in the History of Education 



The question 
of general 
power or 
ability a 
disputed one 

But the old 
disciplinary 
education 
developed 
special 
powers of 
value to a 
limited few 
in society 



Great defects 
of the system 
become evi- 
dent with 
universal 
education 

Certain sub- 
jects do have 
a general 
value 



Also there 
is an identity 
of mental 
procedure 
that gives 
some basis 
for the disci- 
plinary view 



or ability. But this power of voluntarily attending to linguistic, 
legal, theological abstractions, developed through such a train- 
ing, was just the capacity necessary for the success of this 
particular intellectual class. Consequently, whether explained 
through the theory of general ability or of special abilities, this 
disciplinary training for many generations did afford an effective 
education for the classes receiving an education. Further- 
more, voluntary attention must be more depended upon in 
all those life activities dealing with abstract ideas than in 
others, for here the natural interests offer little of that support 
which they would give in other lines of action. The com- 
parative sufficiency of the theory in these earlier periods is 
more evident when it is remembered that the opportunities 
for education were offered to a very few, selected from a limited 
class. It is with the entrance of all classes of pupils into the 
schools, with varying capacities and with varying social needs 
to be met, that the total insufficiency of the disciplinary theory 
becomes apparent. 

However, even with a total disbelief in the theory of general 
mental capacity, it must be admitted that there is a certain 
identity in the content of experience which gives to some sub- 
jects a far more general value than to others. Thus arithmetic 
and language study, since they give a training in activities 
that enter very generally into the experiences of after life, pos- 
sess a general value as subjects of study, which, if not identical 
to that argued by the old disciplinarians, is at least similar. 
Moreover, there is a certain identity of mental procedure in 
all experiences now more apparent since the mind is conceived 
as a unit in its action, than when viewed as a bundle of faculties. 
Consequently, every subject has a disciplinary value. But 
this merit is not the peculiar possession of a favored few, nor 
is it of so wide an applicability, nor can it be possessed at all 
by a particular subject that has no content value, — i.e. one 
not apt to enter into later experiences, — as was held by the 
old disciplinarians. 



Disciplinary Conception of Education 261 

While the disciplinary conception, even in its early form, Continued 

yet prevails very generally and is apt to continue, we are here Pj'evaience 

chiefly concerned in its historical formulation, especially by the piinaryview 

great Enghsh philosopher, Locke. '" practice 

JOHN LOCKE AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DIS- Locke's idea 

CIPLINARY EDUCATION. — John Locke (1632-1704) held ^f^Tsc?'' 

the idea that education was a discipline, and his view strongly pHne much 

reenforced the prevalent one. But the "discipline" of the JhTdfsd *iin^ 

philosopher was a much broader one than the discipline of the ary idea of 

schoolmasters. Locke's one great passion in life, the thought master °°' 
emphasized in his philosophical writings as the aim of intellectual 
endeavor, was the love of truth. The guide to the attainment 
of truth and to every activity in life, was reason ; but the mind 
was capable of attaining to truth and of formulating it only 

when educated to this end. This education consisted in a rigid Based upon 

disciphne. In his Essay concerning' Human Understanding, hisempiri- 

T 1 f 1 1 1 -r. • 1 -1 caltheorycf 

Locke formulated the Baconian philosophy, or more especially knowledge 
the theory of knowledge, that of empiricism, which has remained 
the dominant philosophy of the English thought-world to the 
present time. This theory was that all knowledge comes from 
the perception of the senses and the " perception of the intellect " ; 
that is, from experience. 

The doctrine of the sensational origin of knowledge became But sense- 
the most important part of his teachings, philosophically; but perceptions 
it was the second part of his theory, that concerning the elabora- worked up 
tion of knowledge through the perception of the intellect, that ^"!°^u°^^\ 
became the most important educationally. After the simple the"percep- 
stuff of experience is furnished by the senses, according to 
Locke, our ideas, judgments, etc., are formed through the per- 
ception of the intellect. This can be developed, not through This is de- 
training in sense- perception, but through the discipline of mental ^^loped 
powers, chiefly reason. training or 

Though it is impossible to enter into details here, it must be t^edisaphn- 

■L • • 1 1 ^^y edu- 

borne in mind that Locke's philosophical and psychological cation 
views do not always accord with his views on education. The 



tion of the 
intellect ' 



262 Brief Course in the History of Education 

one fundamental thing that makes Locke a representative of the 
disciphnary education throughout is his idea of the human 
mind as a mere blank to begin with, which has its virtues and 
powers worked into it from the outside through the formation 
of habits. Development, according to Locke, comes only by 
the formation of habit through discipline. 

Our main interest, however, is in the educational theory of 
Locke, not in his philosophy. In his Essay and more especially 
in his Conduct 0} the Understanding, he shows how this type of 
mind can be developed, that is, through such a training or dis- 
cipline as will strengthen all its powers. This is not to be done 
merely by study and reading, but more largely by reflection 
and meditation. These views must be taken into account in the 
examination of his Thoughts concerning Education (1693), 
which is the one work by which his educational ideas are usually 
judged. 

Locke is probably the most important and most influential of 
all English writers on education; at least he takes rank with 
Ascham and Spencer. Consequently the main thoughts of 
Locke's treatise deserve presentation aside from the connection 
they may have with any general tendency. However, it is just 
these fundamental conceptions, as distinguished from the many 
valuable suggestions and ideas scattered throughout the treatise, 
that give Locke his relation to tlie disciplinarians. The aspects 
of education according to Locke are three: physical, moral, 
intellectual. The aims are, correspondingly, vigor of body, 
virtue and knowledge. The first is fundamental as a basis. 
This being provided for, the aims of education are, as he states 
in another place, virtue, wisdom, breeding and learning in the 
order of their importance. 

Physical Education. — "A sound mind in a sound body is a 
short but full description of a happy state in this world. He 
that has these two, has little more to wish for; and he that wants 
either of them, will be but httle the better for anything else." 
These are the opening sentences of the Thoughts, the first thirty 



Disciplinary Conceptioii of Education 263 



paragraphs of which are given to the discussion of physical 
education — one of the first and yet one of the sanest of such 
treatises. The principle underlying it all, the scanty and loose 
clothing, the hard beds, the open air, the simple, even rigid, diet, 
is that of the hardening process, — rigid discipline. 

Moral Education. — One of the most striking of Locke's 
positions, as well as one of the soundest of them, is the clear 
distinction he ever holds in mind between education and in- Education 
struction. This explains the divergence between Locke's ^^'^ ^.'^^"^ 
views and those of the educators of the disciplinary school pre- struction 
vailing during his own time. With the latter, education came 
to be identified with instruction, as it in turn became a rigid 
and formal discipline. With Locke it is education as a whole 
that is a discipline. Instruction is merely the method of in- 
tellectual education. The primary object of education as a 
whole is the formation of character. 



'Tis Virtue then, direct Virtue, which is the hard and valuable part 
to be aimed at in Education, and not a forward Pertness, or any little 
Arts of Shifting. All other Considerations and AccompHshments should 
give way and be postponed to this. This is the solid and substantial 
Good which Tutors should not only read, lecture, and talk of, but the 
Labor and Art of Education should furnish the Mind with, and fasten 
there, and never cease till the young man had a true Relish of it, and 
placed his Strength, his Glory, and his Pleasure in it. 

But it is rather the manner in which this great end is to be 
accomplished that indicates again how, fundamentally, Locke 
holds throughout to the disciplinary conception of education. 

"As the strength of the Body," he remarks in beginning his discussion 
of moral education, "lies chiefly in being able to endure Hardships, so 
also does that of the Mind, and the great Principle and Foundation of 
all Virtue and Worth is placed in this : That a Man is able to deny himself 
his own desires, cross his own inclinations and purely follow what Reason 
directs as best, tho' the appetite lean the other way. ... It seems plain 
to me that the Principle of all Virtue and Excellency lies in the Power 
of denying ourselves the Satisfaction of our own Desires, where Reason 
does not authorize them. This Power is to be got and improved by Cus- 



Its chief aim 
is virtue 



Basis of vir- 
tue in self- 
denial: this 
developed 
by practice 
in self- 
discipline 



264 Brief Course in the History of Education 

torn, made easy and familiar by an early Practice. If, therefore, I might 
be heard, I would advise that contrary to the ordinary way, children should 
be used to submit their Desires and go without their Longings, even from 
their very Cradles. The first thing they should learn to know should 
be that they were not to have anything because it pleased them, but be- 
cause it was thought fit for them." 

So here again education at basis is a discipline. Virtue is to 
be obtained by the formation of good habits through a long 
discipline of the desires. This process is to be made as pleasur- 
able as possible, and great severity, especially as regards cor- 
poral punishment, is to be avoided ; but the secret of all educa- 
tion is to control the natural desires and instincts by thwarting 
them and forming the habit of their control, and not at all by 
following them implicitly as with the naturalists of the Rousseau 
type. 

Intellectual Education. — The portion of the Thoughts dealing 
with intellectual education is devoted for the most part to a 
consideration of the subjects of study. Concerning these, 
Locke agrees in many points with the sense realists and the 
encyclopedists. Even here, however, the disciplinary view is 
fundamental, as will be seen in this conclusion : — 

Learning must be had, but in the second Place, as subservient only 
to greater Qualities. Seek out somebody that may know how discreetly 
to frame his Manners: Place him in Hands where you may, as much 
as possible, secure his Innocence, cherish and nurse up the good, and 
gently correct and weed out any bad Inclinations, and settle in him good 
Habits. This is the main Point, and this being provided for, Learning 
may be had into the Bargain, and that, as I think, at a very easy rate, 
by Methods that may be thought on. 

In Locke's philosophical writings, more especially his Conduct 
0} the Understanding, his conception of the intellectual aspect 
of education is clearly revealed. Long ago this work was termed 
a " treatise on the moral discipline of the intellect." Here, 
in stating his fundamental principle, is given the justification 
for his encyclopedism — together with its great difference from 
that of Comenius. 



Disciplinary Conception of Education 265 

The business of education is not to make the young perfect in any Purpose of 
one of the sciences, but so to open and dispose their minds as may best intellectual 
make them capable of any, when they shall apply themselves to it. . . . ^^ ^^^j^^ mSxA 
It is therefore to give them this freedom that I think they should be made in certain 
to look into all sorts of knowledge and exercise their understanding in habits 
so wide a variety or stock of knowledge. But I do not propose it as a va- 
riety and stock of knowledge but a variety and freedom of thinking; as 
an increase of the powers and activities of the mind, not as an enlargement 
of its possessions. 

The entire treatise is devoted to a reiteration of the idea 
that intellectual education is a formation of habit of thought, 
through exercise and discipline. 

The faculties of our souls are improved and made useful to us just These habits 
after the same manner as our bodies are. Would you have a man write g^in^^i 
or paint, dance or fence well, or perform any other manual operation ercise^nd ' 
dexterously and with ease, let him have ever so much vigor and activity, discipline 
suppleness and address naturally, yet nobody e.xpects this from him unless 
he has been used to it, and has employed time and pains in fashioning 
and forming his hand or outward parts to these motions. Just so it is 
in the mind; would you have a man reason well, you must use him to 
it betimes, exercise his mind in observing the connection of ideas and 
following them in train. 

Respecting the choice subject-matter appropriate to this end, 
he continues in the manner characteristic of this entire school 
of educational thought : — 

Nothing does this better than mathematics, which therefore I think Importance 
should be taught all those who have the time and opportunity, not so °^ mathe- 
much to make them mathematicians, as to make them reasonable creatures; • * n * 1 
for though we call ourselves so, because we are born to it if we please, discipline 
yet we may truly say nature gives us but the seeds of it. We are bom 
to be, if we please, rational creatures, but it is use and exercise that makes 
us so, and we are indeed so no further than industry and apphcation has 
carried us. . . . I have mentioned mathematics as a way to settle in 
the mind a habit of reasoning closely and in train; not that I think it 
necessary that all men should be deep mathematicians, but that having 
got the way of reasoning, which that study necessarily brings the mind 
to, they might be able to transfer it to other parts of knowledge as they 
shall have occasion. 



266 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Other Classifications of Locke. — Locke is frequently classi- 
fied with Montaigne, or with Bacon and Comenius as a sense- 
reahst, or with Rousseau as a naturalist. This is because 
liis fundamental idea has not always been clearly realized, 
and because fragmentary views from his Thoughts have been 
taken as all of equal importance. In many respects some of 
the views of Locke are identical with some of the views of these 
other educational writers. This can be seen even in the brief 
extracts given. But when fundamental views are compared, 
the divergence is evident. Both Locke and Montaigne make 
practical virtue the end of education. But they differ greatly 
respecting what was meant by virtue, and still more widely on 
the fundamental point, how virtue is to be obtained through 
education. And this opposition is found in Locke's disciplinary 
views. Locke's fundamental disagreement with Bacon and 
Comenius is seen in his view that subjects are to be used, not to 
give content, but to give training. And again, though a physi- 
cian, Locke says scarcely a word in favor of the study -'f the 
natural sciences. Rousseau acknowledges his indebtedness 
to Locke. But the fundamental educational idea of Rousseau 
was that natural instincts and tendencies should not be thwarted 
and that habits should not be formed. Locke's most character- 
istic views were, that natural tendencies should be thwarted and 
disciplined, and that education in every aspect was nothing but 
the formation of habit (p. 263). 

THE DISCIPLINARY EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOLS. In 
England. — Locke's trenchant criticism of the type of education 
prevailing in the English public schools should not blind one to 
the fact that there was fundamental agreement in their views of 
education. What Locke objected to was that the schools con- 
fined their disciphne to exclusively intellectual training; and that 
in this training they emphasized activities of the mind that were 
not the most important; and that the means they used, especially 
the writing of Latin themes and verse, were too restricted and 
were calculated to develop certain abilities that were of little value. 



Disciplinary Conception of Education 267 



The work of these pubhc schools is typical of all educational 
work in England during all of the eighteenth and the greater 
part of the seventeenth and of the nineteenth centuries. The very- 
extensive use of corporal punishment for the shghtest offenses 
or deficiencies ; the important influence exerted by the fagging 
system, in which the younger 
boys served as the personal 
attendants and servants of 
the older boys, performing 
all menial services, such as 
keeping their rooms, prepar- 
ing their breakfasts, build- 
ing fires, running errands, 
etc. ; the custom of govern- 
ing the school and inflicting 
punishment in all save the 
most serious offenses by 
these same " sixth form " 
boys ; all these indicate how seal of the free grammar school 

, , , . , , OF LOWTH, FOUNDED BY KiNG EDWARD 

completely, m respect to ^j ^^ ^^^^ 

"virtue and breeding," ed- The motto reads, " UTio spares the rod, hates the 
, 1 . child." 

ucation m the dommant 

English view had become and continued to be a disci- 

pHne. 

On the intellectual side the situation was even more striking. 
Nowhere else can one find dominant for so long a period an 
elementary and secondary education with such a restricted in- 
tellectual content. Beyond the mastery of the rudiments of 
grammar, which were ordinarily required for entrance, the 
entire work of from six to nine years was devoted to Latin and 
Greek prose composition and to the writing of verse, especially 
in the Latin. This was presumed to develop an appreciation for 
the classical literature, which constituted the sole content of 
their curriculum. This regime was hardly questioned until the 
opening of the nineteenth century, and for more than half a 




Seen in cor- 
poral punish- 
ment and 
fagging sys- 
tem, as well 
as in system 
of studies 



Meager con- 
tents of the 
curriculum 



268 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Persistence 
of this type 
of education 
until late in 
the nine- 
teenth cen- 
tury 



Dominance 
of the 
classics 
and of 

mathematics 
in the Eng- 
lish uni- 
versities 



The German 
gymnasium 
represents 
the disci- 
plinary type 
of education 



century additional the merits and demerits of Latin versification 
were discussed as though the whole question of educational 
values and of the subjects of study were compassed within these 
narrow limits. 

In the great survey of all of these schools in England made 
by Carlisle, well into the nineteenth century, the curriculum of 
Winchester is described as follows : " The Latin and Greek 
Grammars of the College only are used. The routine of Educa- 
tion comprises the Classics throughout, and Composition in 
Verse and Prose. The other parts of education, such as French, 
Arithmetic, Mathematics, etc., are not taught in this School." 
The curriculum is everywhere practically the same, and is 
given only a sentence or so in the many pages devoted to 
each school. The reforms since the middle of the century 
have introduced the modern side, — modern languages and the 
sciences, — but the conception of education is yet much the 
same. 

In the Enghsh universities the spirit until very recent times 
was similar. The classics and mathematics constituted the bulk 
of the curriculum. From these, until 1850 at Oxford and until 
185 1 at Cambridge, the subjects for examination must be chosen. 
The fact that no one of the great scientists of the nineteenth cen- 
tury either was trained or did his life's work in connection with 
the universities is one of the most striking evidences of the 
narrow conception of education prevailing therein. 

In Germany. — No more significant evidence of the hold of 
this conception upon the German educators could be found than 
the term applied to their representative school — the gymna- 
sium^ the place for the discipline, training or gymnastic of the 
mind, as with the old Greek the gymnasium had become, when 
this higher training of the mind had replaced that previously 
given to the body. 

As noted in the previous chapter, the realistic conception of 
education found no response in the schools until near the middle 
of the eighteenth century. Even then it was quite slight for 



Disciplinary Conception of Education 269 

the remainder of the century. The narrow humanistic education other 
upon the disciphnary basis prevailed ahnost universally. There ^^ °°g^^^ 
existed as yet little national spirit that demanded an education as more modem 
a basis for the unification in spirit of the German people. Such education"^ 
unity in ideas and in spirit as they possessed was largely due to 

-the Church, which controlled education as a means subordinate 
to' itself. The Church here as elsewhere held the disciplinary 
conception of education. The awakening at the latter half of 

_the- eighteenth century, known as the New Humanism, gave to 
the German people an entirely new conception of the purpose of 
education. This change relegated the disciplinary thought to a 
secondary place. The New Humanism would use the classical The New 
languages for an entirely different purpose, — that of developing ofXe^ninT- 
individualism and national spirit and vitality, through the spirit teenth cen- 
and substance of the ancient, especially Greek life. Latin th^eSreme^^ 
became secondary to Greek, and the formal study for discipline didpiinary 
and for scholastic form was replaced by the ideal of culture as 
shown in a life of activity. But political reaction, followed by 
revolution, produced a decided educational reaction, and the 
disciplinary idea as the bulwark of authority again became 
dominant. Even as late as 1892, the German emperor, speak- Reforms 
ing of the character of the education dominant in the German attempted by 

P the present 

higher schools, could say : — Emperor 

If any one enters into a discussion with these gentlemen [the sup- 
porters of the rigid classical gymnasien] on this point, and attempts to 
show them that a young man ought to be prepared, to some extent at 
least, for life and its manifold problems, they will tell him that such is 
not the function of the school, its principal aim being the discipline or 
gymnastic of the mind, and that if this gymnastic were properly conducted 
the young man would be capable of doing all that is necessary in life. 
I am of the opinion that we can no longer be guided by this doctrine. 

In America. — In our own country, on account of social 
reasons, the breaking away from the dominance of the old ideas 
came much earlier. However, the disciplinary idea is held quite 
widely even yet and controls much of school work.^ When the 



270 Brief Course i7i the History of Education 



The disci- 
plinary edu- 
cation in 
early Ameri- 
can colleges 
and second- 
ary schools 



Persistence 
in the ele- 
mentary 
school 




old Latin grammar schools gave way to the academies, in the 
later eighteenth century, the first step was made. The encroach- 
ment of the sciences and the modern culture subjects in the 
colleges went on gradually, until by the middle of the nineteenth 
century they were well established. With the adoption of the 
elective system, the old disciphnarian basis was largely aban- 
doned, as it has been since, even 
in the collegiate study of the 
classical languages. 

Strange to say, it was in the 
field of elementary education 
that the conception dominated 
the longer. The idea did not 
control so completely that sub- 
jects valuable for their content 
were altogether excluded; yet, 
until recently, the formal studies, 
such as grammar, arithmetic 
and spelling, constituted the 
core and, in quantity, the bulk of the elementary curriculum. 
The training, or discipline, given by these subjects, was held to 
be the element of chief importance in the early years of school- 
ing. Little by little, since the opening of the nineteenth 
century, the content studies, such as hterature, history, geo- 
graphy and the natural sciences, have made their way from the 
academies and secondary schools down into the elementary 
grades. The reasons underlying these changes are to be dis- 
cussed in subsequent chapters. ' 

SUMMARY 

Social changes during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries destroyed 
the practical bearing of the narrow humanistic education. Educational, 
religious, psychological and professional views united in demanding its per- 
petuation. This resulted in the formulation of the disciplinary conception 
of education. According to this view (i) the value of education lies, not 
in the content of the subjects acquired, but in the process of acquiring 



Atiitx. Passive. NiVter, 
Combination of Disciplinary 
School and Realistic Method 

From TAe Little Grammarian, Boston, 1819. 



Disciplinary Co7tception of Education 271 

them; (2) the correct process or method of education will result in the 
development of a special mental power which will be applicable to all 
subjects ; (3) for the most part this view also held that the mind was com- 
posed of faculties of which especially two, memory and reason, were to 
be trained by such disciplinary processes. This view continued to survive 
even after the development of modern psychological and scientific tend- 
encies in education and to receive support from them. To the present 
day, this conception of education has many supporters. While open 
to many criticisms, there are some elements of truth in the theory that 
are altogether independent of these arguments just given. These are, 
(i) the fact that some subjects, such as language, do have a general func- 
tional value; (2) that there is a certain identity in mental processes; (3) 
and that for certain professions or classes this narrow disciplinary educa- 
tion did furnish a practical functional training. The great theoretical 
representative of this view is John Locke. He elaborated the bearing 
of the theory in its relation to physical and moral as well as intellectual 
.training. From the seventeenth century to the present, this conception of 
education has controlled the work of the secondary schools and the old uni- 
versities of England, the gymnasien of Germany, and in the eariier period 
the colleges and secondary schools of America. Its influence in every 
phase of educational work is apparent at the present time. 



272 Brief Course in the History of Education 

Chronological Table of Educational Development during the 
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 



Political 


Literary 

Men, 


Scientists, 
Philoso- 


Educational 




Events and 


Religious 


Writings and 


Educational Events 


Personages 


Leaders, 

ETC. 


phers, 
etc. 


Educators 




1600. 


Bunyan 


Galileo 


Ratich . 1571-1635 


1619. First Natural Science As- 


1618 1648. 


1628 1688 


1 564-1642 


Comenius 


sociation (Rostock). 


Thirty Years' 


George Fox 


Hugo 


1592-1671 


1619. First comp. ed. (Weimar) 


War. 


1624-1691 


jrotius 


Comenius's 


1633. First el. school in America 


1620. Plymouth 


Spener 


1583-1645 


Great 


^^■V- . ■ .. 


settled. 


(Pietist) 


Bacon 


Didactic . 1630 


1635. Boston Latin Grammar 


1648. Peace of 


1637-1702 


1561-1626 


Comenius's Orbis 


School. 


Westphalia. 


1673. Test 


Harvey 


Pictus . . 1657 


1636. Harvard founded. 


1649. Charles I 


Act, Eng. 


1578-1657 


Milton's 


1642. School reforms of Gotha. 


beheaded. 


1685. Edict 


Hobbes 


Tractate . 1644 


1643. Port Royal " Little 


1660. Restora- 


oif Nantes 


1588-1679 


Fenelon's Ed. of 


Schools." 


tion. 


revoked. 


Des Cartes 


Girls . . 1687 


1647. Comp. School law in Mass. 


Louis XIV 


1695. 


1596-1650 


Lasalle's 


1693. William and Mary founded. 


1643-1715 


Toleration 


Boyle 


Institutes, 1684 


1694. First modern university. 


167J. Habeas 
Corpus Act. 


Act, Eng. 


1627-1691 


Locke's 


(Halle founded.) 


Corneille 




Thoughts , 1693 


1697. Teachers' seminary at 
Halle. 


1688. English 


1606-1684 






Revolution. 


La Fontaine 
1621-1685 
Racine 

1639-1699 






1699. Soc. for Prom, of Chris. 
Knowl. founded. 


1700. 


Fenelon 


Newton 


Francke, 1663-1727 


1700. Yale College founded. 


1713. Peace of 


1651-1715 


1642-1727 


RoUin . 1661-1741 


1704. First American newspaper. 


Utrecht. 


Montesquieu 


Leibnitz 


Julius Hecker 


1709. First daily newspaper. 


Queen Anne 


1689-1755 


1646-1716 


1707-1768 


1724. Compulsory education of 


1702-1714 


Voltaire 


Halley 


Rousseau 


both sexes in Saxony. 


Frederick 


1694-1778 


1656-1742 


1712-1778 


1746. Princeton founded. 


William of 


Pope 


Buffon 


Rousseau's 


1747. First real schule (in 


Prussia 


1688-1744 


1707-1788 


Emile . . 1762 


Berlin). 


1713-1740 
Frederick the 


Richardson 


Liniiffius 


Johann Basedow 


1748. First Lehrerseminar 


1689-1761 


1707-1778 


1723-1790 


founded. 


Great 


DeFoe 


Franklin 


Salzmann 


1751. Academy of Philadelphia 


I 740-1 786 


1661-1731 


1706-1790 


1744-1811 


founded. 


1756-1763. 


Addison 


Hume 


Campe . 1746-1818 


1754. Kings* (now Columbia) 


Seven Years' 


1672-1719 


1711-1776 


Pestalozzi 


College founded. 


War. 


Fielding 


Watt 


I 746-1 827 


1764. Expulsion of Jesuits from 


1757. British 


1707-1757 


1736-1819 


Pestalozzi's 


France. 


East India 


Gray 


Lavoisier 


Leonard and 


1763. Special training required 
of all (German teachers. 


Empire 


1716-1771 


1743-1794 


Gertrude . 1781 


founded. 


Jonathan 


Priestley 


Knox, Liberal 


1763. Founding of present 


1772. Partition 


Edwards 


1733-1804 


Education 1781 


system of Prussian schools. 


of Poland. 


1703-1758 


Adam 


Edgeworth, 


1774-1793. Basedow's 


1759-1773 to 


John 


Smith 


Practical 


Ph ila nth ropin u m . 


1814. Jesuit 


Wesley 


1733-1790 


Education 1798 


1783. Sunday-schools founded. 


Order 


1703-1791 


Lamarck 


Jean Paul Richter 


1784. University of State of 


suppressed. 


Diderot 


1744-1829 


1763-1825 


New York. 


1775-1783. 


1713-1784 


Werner 


Frederick 


1785. Land endowments for 


Aineiican 


Helv^tius 


1750-1817 


Augustus Wolf 


public schools in United States. 


Revolution. 


1715-1771 


Kant 


1759-1824 


1785. Webster's Speller. 


1789. First 


Condillac 


1724-1804 


Bell's Experi- 


1794. All Prussian teachers 


President 


1715-1780 


Herschel 


ment in 


declared State officials. 


inaugurated. 


Burns 


1738-1832 


Education, 179S 


1793. Decree of Rev. Convention 


1789. States 


1759-1796 


Schleier- 


Lancaster's 


on education. 


General. 


Schiller 


macher 


Monitorial 


1794. National Normal School 


Louis XVI 


1759-1805 


1768- 1834 


Systefn . 179? 


in France. 


1774-1792 




Fichte 


Andrew Bell 


1795. Primary education 


1799. Bonaparte 




1762-1814 


1753-1832 


established in France. 


overthrows 




Laplace 


Joseph Lancaster 


1795. Lindley Murray's English 


Directory. 




1749-1827 


1778-1838 


grammar. 






Humboldt 


Noah Webster 


1798. Monitorial System 


1800. 




1767-1835 


1758-1843 


established. 



CHAPTER X 

THE NATURALISTIC TENDENCY IN EDUCATION: ROUSSEAU 

RELATION TO PREVIOUS MOVEMENTS AND TO THE "Natural- 
TIMES. — The naturalistic movement in education was a revo- negatirnof 
lution in thought and practice no less important and influential the Renais- 
than that of the Renaissance. It was the overthrow of that 
conception, developed by the Renaissance, that education con- 
sists of a mastery of books and of forms. But the naturalistic 
movement in thought was far more general than the educational 
aspect of it. And the educational aspect can only be understood 
through a comprehension of broader intellectual and social 
conditions. 

During the latter part of the seventeenth and most of the Was a revolt 
eighteenth century a lifeless formalism prevailed in religion and formTiLm^ 
morals. Against this there had sprung up in England, Puritan- of the eight- 
ism; in Germany, Pietism; in France, Jansenism. But even 
these movements, because they asserted ideals too high for 
realization, had themselves degenerated into formalism. A tone 
of cant was introduced into literature and social intercourse ; and 
underneath this, frivolity and licentiousness soon developed. In and espe- 
France the established Church retained all its former power and "^'^^ against 

^ the artin- 

exerted a most oppressive influence over thought and action, ciaiityof 
The reigning monarchs made amends for their licentiousness by\ 
persecution and inquisitorial torturing of those who dared I 
question the authority of the Church, and the aristocracy pur-' 
chased a similar indulgence by a most intense loyalty to formal' 
orthodoxy. "Ceremonial display and outward magnificence 
merely veiled moral meanness and inward depravity; punctilious 
attention to the rites of the Church, and a blind or feigned ortho- 



eenth cen- 
tury 



French 
Ufe 



274 Brief Course in the History of Education 

doxy, only favored the spread of hypocrisy and of a secret and 
cynical skepticism."^ During the seventeenth century France 
had been the first nation of the world, and during the seven- 
teenth and early eighteenth centuries had passed through a 
period comparable to the Periclean or Augustan ages of ancient 
civilizations. But the brilliancy of Paris had been purchased 
at the expense of the provinces. The power of the king had been 
bought with the slavery of his people ; his success in war with the 
impoverishment of the country ; the extravagance of aristocratic 
society with the sordid lives of the common people. The 
supremacy of the orthodox Church had been brought about by 
the suppression of all right of individual judgment. The support 
of the nobility for the Church and state had been secured by 
unjust privileges and corrupt lives. 

There prevailed an absolutism in politics, in religion, in 
thought and in action, that could persist only so long as no one 
arose to lead a revolt. During the eighteenth century leaders 
were found. The first revolt was that of the intellect against 
repression, and is usually called the Illumination or the Enlight- 
enment. The second was the revolt of the masses for the rights of 
the common man, and constitutes the Naturalistic Movement. 
On the thought side these two movements had much in common 
and are often included together. Yet in certain fundamentals, 
such as formalism and aristocracy, there was a radical diver- 
gence between them. They will be briefly noticed as distinct 
from each other. 

THE ILLUMINATION OR ENLIGHTENMENT, though a 
most notable step in the development of human freedom, 
was in its outcome but a new type of formalism. This eight- 
eenth-century formalism was materialistic as the former had 
been pietistic; skeptical and rationalistic as the former had 
been rehgious and ceremonial; aristocratic as that had been 
democratic. According to the prevailing standards of- the 
eighteenth century, morality consisted in the observance of 

' Flint, History of the Philosophy of History in France, p. 236. 



Natic7'alistic Tendency i7t Education 275 

form and the preservation of proper outward appearance. 
Consequently, as is evidenced by the hterature of the times, 
it permitted the grossest immorahty. Rejecting the practices Rationalistic 
of Puritanism and Pietism as hypocrisy and revealed relisrion '"terpreta- 

J ^ J o tjon of hie 

as superstition, it became op«inly atheistic or skeptical. Hume 
and Gibbon in England and Voltaire and the encyclopedists 
in France interpreted life from that position. In its origin 
the Enlightenment was a reaction against the existing formal- 
ism in thought and in belief, and against the absolutism of 
the Church. It rebelled against hierarchy and despotism in 
Church, state and society; against superstition and ignor- 
ance in thought ; against hypocrisy in morals. As often, the Evil as well 
price of freedom was anarchism in social order, atheism and ^ ^f^ , 

... . . . . results of 

skepticism in thought, and license in morals. Establishing this inteiicc- 
as its fundamental principle a complete reliance upon human t^aifreedom 
understanding and reason, the early movement opposed all 
ancient abuses, and along with these all forms of tyranny, 
whether in thought, in government or in morals. Finally, it 
attacked the very foundations of all the institutions, especially 
of state and Church, through which such authority was ex- 
ercised. Thus it tended to eliminate for the time being much 
that was woven into the very texture of a stable society and 
is ever essential to it. Through human reason alone was 
any true estimate of life now to be formulated and human 
happiness attained. 

The aim of the Enlightenment was to liberate the mind The aims of 
from the dominance of supernatural terrorism; to establish enment^^ ^' 
the moral personality of the individual, independent of ecclesi- 
astical and social forms; to demonstrate the intellectual free- 
dom and sufficiency of man; to destroy the terrorisms over 
the feelings, the absolutism over thought, the tyranny over its character- 
action, exercised especially by the Church, and, as supplement- ?^^'g ^^^^ ' 
ing the Church, the monarchy. The Enlightenment asserted 
a supreme faith in the reason of the individual, in justice in 
the state, in toleration in religious beliefs, in liberty in political 



enment was 
aristocratic, 



276 Brief Course hi the History of Education 

action, and in the rights of man. The entire period was con- 
trolled by a profound belief in the prerogative of the individual, 
Essential his right to individual judgment, and to the determination 
ideas of die ^j every question uninfluenced by the beliefs and superstitions 
eighteenth of the Church and the traditions of society. Freedom of 
century thought, liberty of conscience, sufficiency of reason for the 

conduct of life, were thus the watchwords and the keys of 
interpretation of this eighteenth-century movement. 
The Eniight- Howcvcr, there was another side to the Enlightenment : 
Voltaire and his co-workers of the early half of the century 
were no less aristocrats than those aristocrats of privilege 
whom they opposed. They held that the lower classes were 
not amenable to reason, that they were incapable of being 
educated, that they were but little above the savages, and 
consequently that for them religion had a legitimate function, 
indifferent The thought-movement of the early part of the century 

to the needs ^^^ aristocratic, because it was rationalistic. It aimed to 

and rights ' 

of the masses secure the culture of the few, the overthrow of narrow tradi- 
tion and dogmatism in the lives of those who controlled society, 
and the control of reason among the educated class. It would 
substitute a new aristocracy of intelligence and wealth for 
the old aristocracy of family, of position and of the Church. 
It possessed a cleverness, a wit, a brilliancy, that contrasted 
favorably with the narrowness and dullness of the old. But 
it was for the chosen few, and had no regard for the masses, 
sunk in degradation and overwhelmed by wrongs and tyranny. 
While the illuminati opposed tyranny and oppression in human 
thought, they yet aspired to profit by participation in the 
social and political privileges of the few. There was a self- 
ishness and inconsistency about it all, that but made more 
glaring the injustice to the many who must support the privi- 
leges of the few. 
Was artifi- Hence this early intellectual movement inevitably degener- 
cial and ^^^^ -^^^^ selfish indifference, into skepticism and into the 

lormal m its ' ... 

results stilted formaUsm of a polished but artificial society. All 



Naturalistic Tendency in Educatio7t 277 

this was rational enough, to be sure, but through its artifi- 
ciality it had lost all approach to a natural mode of living, 
and through its cosmopolitanism, all national and local feeling. 
The propaganda of the Enlightenment had been confined 
to no one country. Literature in the vernacular first came 
to be cosmopolitan through Locke, Pope and the novelists 
of England, through Voltaire and the encyclopedists of France 
and the philosophers of Germany. The learned class, affect- 
ing superiority by virtue of their stilted wisdom, now shunned 
simplicity as a mark of vulgarity, and naturalness as a mark 
of irrationality. The formalism of morality into which the especially on 
Pietistic and Puritanic morality degenerated is well illustrated morality 
in the English novels of the eighteenth century, such as those 
of Richardson. The formalism of the Enlightenment is equally 
well illustrated in the conception of morality, of politeness 
and of sympathy revealed in Lord Chesterfield's Letters. The 
later eighteenth century, weary of the formalism of both move- 
ments, became, under the leadership of Rousseau, directed 
to a new purpose. 

THE NATURALISTIC PHASE OF THE EIGHTEENTH- With the 
CENTURY MOVEMENT. — Until the middle of the century, Mol^'ement? 
philosophy and " reason " concentrated most of their attacks social re- 

1 ^T 1 A ,- 1 • 1 11 r 1 ... form was 

upon the Church. After the middle of the century, criticism the great aim 
was directed toward the evils of the social and political organi- 
zation of life. Theearlier aim was to destroy the existing abuses; 
the latter rather toward building up an ideal society. 

But there were other more fundamental distinctions between Ration- 
the two movements. The "rule of reason" had come to be for ^nnyfor Ihe 
many no less a t)Tanny than the rule of authority. As opposed masses 
to the earher rationahstic belief, the view was now urged that the 
senses were not always to be depended upon, and that reason was 
not always infallible. On the other hand, the emotions, as true 
expressions of our nature and as opposed to the selfish calcula- 
tions of reason, were rather to be followed as the guide to right 
conduct. The movement of the latter half of the century looked 



278 Brief Course in the History of Education 

toward the improvement of the masses of the people, as the 
former had resulted in the formation of an intellectual aris- 
tocracy. 
Rousseau Voltaire was the leader in the first movement, because of his 

Voka^re *° brilliant intellectual power and his far-reaching rationalism; 
as a leader Rousseau was the leader in the second, because of his deep 
orms emotionalism and his profound sympathy for the people. " If 
at is an explanation of the popularity of Voltaire that he said what 
most were thinking, then we may say that Rousseau was popular 
because he gave the most perfect expression to what others were 
feeling." ^ The early movement had led to freedom of the in- 
tellect, but yet had tolerated for selfish reasons the formalism 
and arbitrary authority of social institutions. 
Rousseau Led partly by personal feeling and partly by sympathy for the 

gr?at leader* common lot, Rousscau revolted most violently against the glaring 
in democracy social inequalities of his age. He propounded in place of the old 
law of reason the new gospel of faith in nature, in the common man, 
and in man's ability to work out his own good in hfe. Contrasted 
with the majesty of the monarchy, the gayety and luxuriousness 
of the lives of the nobility, the briUiancy of society, La Bruyere 
drew a picture of " certain wild animals, male and female, 
scattered over the fields, black, livid, all burnt by the sun, bound 
to the earth that they dig and work with unconquerable perti- 
nacity; they have a sort of articulate voice, and when they rise 
on their feet, they show a human face, and, in fact, are men." 
Quoting this, Morley adds: "There is no reason to think that 
Voltaire ever saw this gaunt and tremendous spectacle. Rous- 
seau was its first voice. Since him the reorganization of the 
relations of men has never faded from the sight either of states- 
men or philosophers with visions keen enough to admit to their 
eyes even what they dreaded and execrated in their hearts. 
Voltaire's task was different and preparatory. It was to make 
popular the genius and authority of reason." ^ 

^ Willert in Acion's Cambridge History, Vol. VIII, p. 28. 
^ Voltaire, pp. 27-28. 



Naturalistic Te7tdency in Education 279 

The task of the second half-century, under the leadership of Contrast 
Rousseau, was to develop a new faith in man, to work out a new J.e/i^fo^^^ 
ideal in life, to infuse a new spirit into society, and to reestablish orthodoxy 
a basis for religion in man's nature. When we take the old ^g^achings of 
period of rehgious orthodoxy and the new naturalism, each at its naturalism 
best, we find a profound difference between them. " Faith in 
a divine power, devout obedience to its supposed will, hope of 
ecstatic, unspeakable reward, these were the springs of the old 
movement. Undivided love of our fellows, steadfast faith in 
human nature, steadfast search after justice, firm aspiration 
toward improvement, and generous contentment in the hope 
that others may reap whatever reward may be, these are the 
springs of the new." ^ 

A further difference between the rationalistic and the natural- Contrast be- 
istic movements, as personified by Voltaire and Rousseau, is Erdighten- 
seen in the attitude of these two men toward religion. Voltaire mentand 
held that all religion was an illusion to the believer and a decep- in the\tt^ 
tion by the priesthood. The naturalists rejected both the skep- tude toward 
ticism of the illuminati and the old ecclesiasticism which they ^^^^^° 
considered to be the superstition of orthodoxy. They formulated 
a " natural religion," which included the morahty of Christianity 
but excluded more or less completely the supernatural element. 
The criticism of this natural religion does not concern us here, 
any more than does a criticism of the position of the skeptics. 
But it is important to note that the naturalists believed in religion "Natural 
as an essential part of human society because it was an essential 
part of human experience. The attitude of the Revolutionary 
Convention is a just commentary on the difference between the 
two movements in this respect. The Convention affirmed the 
belief of the French nation in a Supreme Being and in the 
immortality of the soul, and accepted the confession of the Savoy- 
ard Vicar (from the Emile, Bk. IV) as the estabhshed faith. 
Skepticism and atheism were pronounced to be aristocratic and 
not to be endured. 

* Morley, Rousseau, Vol. I. Introd. 



religion" 



2 So Brief Course in the History of Education 



The civiliza- 
tion of the 
Enlighten- 
ment held 
by Rousseau 
to be a curse 



Analysis of 
Rousseau's 
character 



His traits of 
mind 



His influence 



The general conception of civilization held by Voltaire and 
his associates eliminated religion; permitted the populace no 
rights; had no sympathy with the masses; erected a pohshed, 
intellectual society, preserving its identity by a cold formalism 
and its morality by a punctilious observance of stiff rules; 
accepted reason as a guide in thought, materialism as a stand- 
ard in morality, and self-interest as the principle of action. In 
this conception of society is to be found the animus of Rous- 
seau's contention that civilization is a curse. 

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU. — In Rousseau's character 
there was an extraordinary combination, of strength and weak- 
ness, of truth and falsity, of that which is attractive with that 
which is repulsive. Consequently to estimate aright the ideas 
and purposes of the man, to understand the movement in thought 
and in institutional organization which owes much of its in- 
tensity to Rousseau's teachings, one must lay aside all prejudices 
in considering the man himself and the form in which he ex- 
pressed his ideas. This is especially necessary if one is to gain 
any conception of the bearing of his teachings on the develop- 
ment of educational thought. Rousseau possessed an un- 
usual power of embodying great ideas in words, but a very slight 
ability to realize them in action. Clear insight, great sympathy, 
little accurate knowledge, and less' disciplined power of the mind 
constituted his mental equipment. He gave an impetus to 
ideas less effectively expressed by many others, that has made 
him one of the most powerful factors in all history. Napoleon 
said that without him the French Revolution would not have 
occurred. He was the first to preach effectively the gospel of the 
common man and gave to him an education as a right of birth. 
He caused a more complete revolution in educational thought 
and practice than any man or group of men that we have had 
to consider. 

Rousseau was bom (17 12) at Geneva, which at that time was 
renowned for its intellectual and moral vigor. In this city, the 
home of Calvinism, there prevailed an earnestness of moral 



Naturalistic Tendency in Education 281 

life, purity of domestic relations, simplicity of social order, and influence of 
freedom in government, that were in sharp contrast with the pi^c^g ^Ij" 
luxury, artificiality and immorality of life at Paris, where Rous- Rousseau's 
seau later made his residence. His training in early years was ' ^^ 
one of indulgence. When very young, he was taught to read, 
and devoted his early years to the unrestricted devouring of His early 
romances. This experience fixed in him a native tendency to ^'■^'"'"s 
sentimentality and even to sensuality. A few years of more 
formal education, very indifferently attended to, failed to make Hiseduca- 
any radical change in his character thus early formed. At 
twelve we find him apprenticed to a trade, where, according to 
his own account, he learned more of deceit, idleness and dis- 
honesty than he did of craftsmanship. Four years later, still 
consulting only the whims of sentiment, he became a common 
vagabond. This life, continued for several years, had the merit His life 
of strengthening both his love for, and his knowledge of, nature. 
The emotions and senses yet remained the chief channels of 
influence. A full meal, a bottle of wine and the hospitality of 
a priest, whom he later immortalized as the Savoyard Vicar, 
led to a "conversion" in religion. This chance incident shaped 
the life of Rousseau for years. 

Our only interest in following even thus far the details of the His doctrines 
life of Rousseau is to indicate that his ideals of education grew f^g ^ °eri- 
out of his own life. In his life and in his theories, the emotions ence 
rather than the reason dominate ; natural instincts and desires 
are supreme. Out of the experience of his life, he later teaches 
that moral and religious ideas cannot develop in early child- 
hood, that more is to be derived from association with nature 
than from communion with books or from the intelligence of 
others, that proper development can come only by removing all 
restrictions and allowing natural tendencies to have full sway. 

When about forty his aimless, meaningless existence became Social re- 
possessed of a great idea which gave point to his sentimental ^^''If ^^" 

tllSllCS 3. 

vaporings and to his emotional prejudices and beliefs. This idea purpose to 
through him was to revolutionize the social structure of his ^'^^^^ 



282 Brief Course in the History of Education 



The question 
which first 
suggested 
the doctrine. 
His first 
" Essay " 



Merits and 
demerits of 
this ideal 
primitive 
state 



adopted country as well as to modify profoundly that of many 
others, and when applied to education was to create a new epoch 
therein as well. In brief, the idea was simple and now com- 
monplace enough. It was that human happiness and human 
welfare are the natural rights of every individual, not the special 
possession of a favored class ; and that legitimate social organi- 
zation and education exist but to bring about the realization 
of this desideratum. To this he added as a main argument, 
— the fuse which was to explode the bomb, — that science, art, 
government, education as then constituted prevented this reali- 
zation and hence were objects for destruction. 

DOCTRINE OF THE "NATURAL STATE."— In 1749, 
coming by chance across the theme for a prize essay propounded 
by the Dijon Academy, Rousseau was seized with what he 
terms an inspiration. The theme was formulated in the 
question: " Has the restoration of the sciences contributed 
to purify or corrupt manners?" Rousseau's answer was 
the negative one elaborated in the doctrine of the "natural 
state." This idea was much discussed during this period 
and by some even given the same form as that now propounded 
by Rousseau. But, unlike others, Rousseau furnished in 
defense of this thesis an emotional fervor and a Hterary style 
that carried conviction. To him belongs the honor of secur- 
ing its popular acceptance. Rousseau did but little more 
than idealize his remembrance of the simple Genevan life 
and society, together with that of his own aimless, emotional 
life. As we recognize the primitive man to be, so certainly 
by his own showing was Rousseau in his worst moments, 
" lying, faithless, slanderous, thievish, indecent, cruel, cow- 
ardly, selfish." But this life had its positive side also; it was 
entirely spontaneous; it was simple, happy, contented, eastern, 
honest — in the sense of true to life. Compared with the 
life which Rousseau contrasted it with, — the formal, super- 
ficial, selfish, and to him inhuman life of Parisian society, — 
the life according to nature had much to commend it. Much 



Naturalistic Tendency in Education 2S3 

of the unattractiveness of the life of nature was due to the its formula- 
lack of that sophistication so characteristic of the social life ^-haracter^ 
of the times and was more than counterbalanced by its gen- ofeight- 
uineness. Its strength lay in its recognition of the worth of ^^^ society 
the individual on his own merits, in the bond of sympathy 
which it recognized as the universal solvent, in its passion 
for freedom and for independence from the trammels of usage, 
tradition and tyranny. 

Rousseau had now spent several years in contact, though Rousseau's 
not in sympathy, with the society of culture, wealth and posi- ^^jl'h^^hion- 
tion. On the other hand, he had mingled with that circle able and 
of powerful intellects, centered around Voltaire, which con- g^^^gl 
trolled the new thought and influenced most of the political 
and social hierarchies of Europe. With neither of these so- 
cieties had he any sjTnpathy. The one principle which he 
honestly lived up to throughout his life was the democratic; 
one, — his feeling for the common man, his belief in the worth 
of the individual. It was this hollow and insincere, though 
brilhant, wealthy and " cultured " society that was before 
him when he produced his essays and those works of the fol- 
lowing thirteen years, ending with the Emile, which were 
to render him famous and to revolutionize society. 
/ Rousseau's second essay On the Origin 0} Inequality among The Second 
'Men, is devoted largely to an imaginary description of the ^^^^ 
state of society among primitive men. The idea of this dis- 
course leads to that of Rousseau's chief political treatise, 
the Social Contract. In this the basal doctrines of the French Political as- 
Revolution as well as of our own Declaration of Independence ^^^tj-lng^^f 
are set forth. Government is the result of a " contract " the natural 
among the people, by which some are given delegated power ^^^^^ 
to rule, while the remainder of the people give to the govern- 
ing class some service in return for services performed. Govern- 
ment, thus formed by agreement, can be dissolved when the 
parties no longer agree. It is to be noted that the conception 
of the " natural state " is modified in the Social Contract. 



284 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Relation to 
the French 
and Ameri- 
can Revo- 
lutions 



Plan of the 
Entile 



Use of the 
term nature 



Doctrine of 
" nature" 
in its social 
significance 



It is no longer the life of the savage that is ideal, but the life 
in society organized under the rule of the people. In this 
state the simple tastes and wants of the masses dominate, 
and an aristocracy with its ill-gained wealth, leisure time 
and selfish indulgence is wanting. Such a society can devote 
itself to the development of an ideal life, wherein the " natural 
man " is not hampered, freedom is not lost, and the arts and 
sciences of polite society are undeveloped. 

Just as the great doctrines of liberation of the common 
man find their origin in the teachings of Rousseau, so also 
do the great educational doctrines of the liberation of the 
child. As the Social Contract contains the germs of the Ameri- 
can Constitution, so the Emile contains the germinal ideas 
of the kindergarten, of modern elementary school work and 
of the entire modern conception of education. 

THE " EMILE " AND EDUCATION ACCORDING TO NA- 
TURE. — In this long tale, part novel, part didactic exposition, 
Rousseau describes the education of the youth appropriate to his 
ideal society. The child is taken from his parents and the 
schools, isolated from society, and put into the hands of an 
ideal tutor, who brings him up in contact with nature's beauties 
and nature's wonders. In this treatise, " education according 
to nature " receives its fullest exposition. 

Threefold Meaning of Nature in the " Emile." — In the open- 
ing sentence of the work the fundamental principle is stated: 
" Everything is good as it comes from the hand of the author of 
nature; but everything degenerates in the hands of man." 
While Rousseau is not consistent in his use of the term nature, 
and employs it, as is frequently done by others, in a very vague 
way, yet one of three definite meanings can usually be assigned 
to it. 

The first and fundamental meaning of " nature " in the Emile, 
as in Rousseau's other writings, is the social one. In the Social 
Contract he shows how a state of high culture can be based upon 
a truer political principle, and thus a nobler type of social life 



Naturalistic Tendency in Education 285 

than that of the eighteenth century may be evolved. In the 
Emile he describes an education based, not on the forms of 
society, on the meaningless traditions of the school, and on an 
entire ignorance of childhood, but on a knowledge of the true 
nature of man. As in the Social Contract he taught that the 
only rights of man were those found in the laws of his own nature; 
so, according to the Emile, education is to be guided by these 
same laws. The " natural man " is not the savage man, but 
man governed and directed by the laws of his own nature. Such 
laws are discoverable, as are the laws of any other portion 
of nature, through investigation. This being the primary 
meaning of education according to nature, an opposition to 
society follows as a corollary. " We must choose between 
making a man and a citizen, for we cannot make both at once." 
But it must be understood that in making this statement Rous- 
seau had primarily in mind the civilization of the eighteenth 
century. 

A second meaning given to " nature " is that the instinctive "Nature" 
judgment, primitive emotions, natural instincts, " first impres- ^^ojo^^^a] 
sions," are more trustworthy as a basis for action than are significance 
reflection, or the experience that comes from association with 
others. " Before this alteration (by habits of thought and judg- 
ment acquired from others), this disposition is what I call our 
nature." Hence Rousseau is constantly attacking the formation 
of " habits " in education. "The only habit which the child 
should be allowed to form is to contract no habit whatever," 
he says. Habit, in the sense of primary disposition unaltered 
by enlightenment or by suggestion from others, is to be followed. 
Habit, in its usual significance, as that fixed method of action 
which is acquired by direct imitation, or by suggestion from 
others, is to be shunned. 

/ The third sense in which " nature" is used, is to indicate in- 
animate and subhuman nature. The mal-education which comes 
from man is to be counteracted by contact, fearless and inti- 
mate, with animals, with plants, and with physical phenomena 



286 Brief Course in the History of Education 



" Nature " 
in its phe- 
nomenal 
or physical 
significance 



Prevailing 

" positive" 

education 

aimed to 

repress 

natural 

tendencies 



Rousseau's 
definition of 
" negative " 
education : 



training to 
precede in- 
struction 



and forces of all kinds. Rousseau was a " lover of nature," 
and through his teachings began a movement of finer and fuller 
appreciation of nature, which found its expression in a wide 
school of literature both on the continent and in England. 
Rousseau's conception, however, based upon a wholly misan- 
thropic view of the hfe of man in society, was not quite so genial. 
It led to complete isolation from society and to the preference 
for the hfe of the recluse. Both morally and physically he held 
that " Cities are the graves of the human species." 

Negative Education. — The prevaihng conception of human 
nature, and especially of child nature, reinforced by both educa- 
tional and rehgious teachings, was diametrically opposed to that 
of Rousseau. Human nature was considered essentially bad. 
The purpose of religious training as well as of education in gen- 
eral was to eradicate the original nature and to replace it by 
one shaped under man's direction. Rousseau opposed this 
idea with the following principle: "The first education, then, 
should be purely negative. It consists, not in teaching the 
principles of virtue or truth, but in guarding the heart against 
vice and the mind against error." With him the entire educa- 
tion of the child was to come from the free development of his 
own nature, his own powers, his own natural inclinations. His 
will was not to be thwarted. 

By this negative education, expounded in most startling 
paradoxes, Rousseau did not maintain that there should be no 
education at all; but that there should be one very different 
in kind from the accepted educational practices. In one of his 
letters in defense of the Emile against the many attacks made 
upon it, the author wrote: " I call a positive education one that 
tends to form the mind prematurely, and to instruct the child in 
the duties that belong to a man. I call a negative education 
one that tends to perfect the organs that are the instruments of 
knowledge before giving this knowledge directly; and that 
endeavors to prepare the way for reason by the proper exercise 
of the senses. A negative education does not mean a time of 



Naturalistic Tende7icy in Education 287 

idleness; far from it. It does not give virtue, it protects from Critical and 
vice ; it does not inculcate truth, it protects from error. It 7'^'! ^f^^" 

' _ . . doxical form 

disposes the child to take the path that v^ill lead him to truth, of statement 
when he has reached the age to understand it ; and to goodness, RousseJu 
when he has acquired the faculty of recognizing and loving it." 

It is owing to this negative and critical form in which his 
ideas are stated, that Rousseau is so difficult to interpret, and that 
his educational ideas are held to be of little importance and in- 
fluence. He can be understood only in the light of the times 
in which he wrote. 

Education from One to Five. — The substance of his teach- Avoid cus- 
ings concerning this first period is a condemnation of the ^°'"^7'"«^- 

" " . ^ stnctions of 

customary restrictions of swaddHng clothes, of restraints on childhood 
freedom, and of indoor life ; of the thwarting of natural inclina- 
tions and desires, and of punishment for acts before the child 
can have any conception of wrong or of why punishment is 
given. It includes extravagant praise of life in the country, of 
freedom, of sports and games, and of exercise. "The weaker Commends 
the body, the more it commands; the stronger it is, the better it P^y^'^^^ 

^ ' o 7 education 

obeys. All the sensual passions find lodgment in effeminate 
bodies." " All wickedness comes from weakness. A child is 
bad only because he is weak ; make him strong and he will be as basis of 
good. He who can do everything does nothing bad." Little p^o^aiand 
attention is to be paid to his intellectual and moral development, development 
Effort should be made, even, to restrict his vocabulary. " It 
is a great disadvantage for him to have more words than ideas, 
and to know how to say more things than he can think." 

Education from Five to Twelve. — This, "the most Moral train- 
critical period of human life," is to be: controlled by the jfig through 
two principles that education should be negative and that conse- 
moral training should be by natural consequences. In- ^"^'^ces" 
stead of attempting, as is ordinarily done, to give the child 
all sorts of ideas, nothing at all should be done toward 
molding or forcing his mind. Childhood is for its own sake. 
" Nature desires that children should be children before they 



Brief Course in the History of Education 



Intellectual 

training 

through 

natural 

interests 



Adolescence, 
the period of 
intellectual 
education : 
natural pow- 
ers now 
greater than 
demands 



Curiosity or 
" interest " 
the sole guide 



Book knowl- 
edge not 
important 



are men." The child need not be taught to read, though prob- 
ably he will pick this up on his own accord. He will hardly 
know what a book is. " Exercise the body, the organs, the 
senses and powers, but keep the soul lying fallow as long as you 
can," is his advice. While the child knows nothing of books 
and of that which passes for knowledge, " on the other hand he 
judges, foresees, reasons on everything which is directly re- 
lated to him; " for this education is to be largely a training of 
the senses, such as can be gained by intimate contact with the 
forces and phenomena of nature. He measures, weighs, counts, 
compares, draws conclusions, tests inferences, discovers prin- 
ciples. 

Education from Twelve to Fifteen. — This is the one period 
in life in which the strength of the individual is greater than 
his needs. As intellectual training has for its general re- 
sult the multiplication of wants without any corresponding 
development of power adequate to meet those needs, this is 
the one period in life in which greatest stress can be laid 
upon the acquisition of knowledge. But, after all, there are 
comparatively few things to be known that are of value. 
Curiosity — that ardor for knowledge which comes from nat- 
ural desires and not from the desire to be considered wise — 
is the sole motive and the sole guide. The test of all is its 
practical use. " Let us then reject from our primary stud- 
ies those branches of knowledge for which man has not a 
natural taste, and let us limit ourselves to those which in-, 
stinct leads us to pursue," is Rousseau's statement of a principle 
far more widely accepted in this day than in his own. There 
is little of " book knowledge " even in this period. Robinson 
Crusoe, a study of " life according to nature," is the chief 
book recommended. Knowledge is to be clearly distinguished 
from truth and the useful from both. 

Among other things, Emile has learned a trade, " less for 
the sake of knowing the trade than for overcoming the preju- 
dices which despise it." In his long discussions of the 



Naturalistic Tendency in Education 289 

importance of the manual and industrial activities in educa- Manual and 
tion, Rousseau emphasizes many of the social advantages, training a 
without comprehending at all the psychological advantages partofedu- 
that are so emphasized at present. At the end of this period 
" Emile is industrious, temperate, patient, firm, and full of 
courage. . . . He has little knowledge, but what he has is 
really his own; he knows nothing by halves. . . . Do you 
think that a child who has thus reached his fifteenth year 
has lost the years preceding?" 

Education from Fifteen to Twenty. — Hitherto Emile's Period of 
body, senses and brain have been formed; it is now time ^"ian^ "" 
that his heart should be shaped. Hitherto the child has 
been educated solely for himself and by himself; self-love 
has been the controlling motive; self-perfection, self-develop- 
ment, the ultimate end. Now the youth is to be educated for 
hfe with others and is to be educated in social relationships. 
Love for others becomes the controlling motive; emotional 
development and moral perfection, the goal. 

Rousseau first called attention to the transcendent impor- Educational 
tance of the period of adolescence in education. " At this oTthJ'adT 
stage the ordinary course of education ends; but strictly speak- lescentperiod 
ing here one's should begin." Up to this time Emile has 
not been brought, save indirectly, into contact with others; 
he has not had to adapt himself to the conduct and interests 
of others; he has knovm no motives save those of self-interest 
and curiosity. He has probably never even heard the name 
of God. Now his education is to be strictly moral and religious. 
Previous attachments for persons have been merely the result 
of habitual association; now they are based on unity in sym- 
pathy and upon emotional experience. The whole character 
of his education changes. "The study proper for man is 
ithat of his relations. While he knows only his physical ex- 
istence, he should solely study his relations to things; this is 
the employment of his childhood. When he begins to feel 
his moral existence, he ought then to inquire after his relations 



290 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Basis of 
moral and 
religious 
education to 
be found in 
the emo- 
tional nature 



Learning 

through 

doing 



No necessity 
of experi- 
encing the 
evil, to know 
of its conse- 
quences 



Religious 
education 



Religious 
forms held 
to be worth- 
less 



to mankind; for this is the proper occupation of his whole 
life, beginning from the period which we have now reached." 

Self-love, in which are latent both good and evil, is now to 
be turned irrevocably toward the good. The basis of all this 
is the emotional life. " From the first movements of the 
heart, arise the first utterances of the conscience; and, from 
the first feelings of love and hate, spring the first notions of 
good and evil." This training was to be secured in the earlier 
period by the preservation of his native modesty through 
the negative training. So now, not through precept, but 
through contact with men, through the example of his tutor, 
through the study of history, is this development to be secured. 
" I do not grow weary of repeating that all the lessons of young 
men should be given in action rather than in words. Let 
them learn nothing in books that can be taught them by ex- 
perience." And yet Rousseau was far from preaching the 
dangerous doctrine that one should learn to avoid evil through 
experience of its consequences. "There is no ethical knowl- 
edge which cannot be acquired through the experience of 
others or through one's OAvn. In case the experience is dan- 
gerous, instead of making it ourselves, we draw the lesson 
from history. When the trial is without consequences, it is 
well for the young man to remain exposed to it." Thus, 
Emile is taught not only to shun evil, but to do good. Es- 
pecially the poor and the oppressed call for his sympathy 
and his assistance. While he is firm in the assertion of his 
own rights, and is quick to the defense and protection of others, 
he is an exponent of the virtues of peace. "The spirit of 
peace is the effect of his education." 

In a similar way Emile receives his religious education. " At 
the age of fifteen, he did not know that he had a soul, and 
perhaps at eighteen it is not yet time for him to be informed 
of it ; for if he learns it too soon, he runs the risk of never know- 
ing it." This last clause contains the underlying principle of 
his teaching concerning religious education. Otherwise, the 



Naturalistic Tendency in Education 291 

religious ideas which the child gets arc mere forms, verbal 
imitations, worthless so far as real experience is concerned. 

SOME PERMANENT RESULTS OF ROUSSEAU'S IN- The essence 
FLUENCE. The Education of Natural Interests vs. the Educa- sp^^^.g ^^^^_ 
tion of Artificial Effort. — The fundamental theories of Rous- cationai 
seau can be given briefly. Education is a natural, not an arti- 
ficial, process. It is a development from within, not an accretion 
from without. It comes through the workings of natural in- 
stincts and interests, and not through response to external force. 
It is an expansion of natural powers, not an acquisition of in- 
formation. It is life itself, not a preparation for a future state 
remote in interests and characteristics from the life of childhood. 

The old conception of education aimed to remake the nature Contrast 
of the child by forcing upon him the traditional or customary l^^j^^J.'^'j.",^^^ 
way of thinking, of doing, and even of emotional reaction. It education 
substituted for the instinctive or " natural " reaction of the child ^" ^^^ , 

dominant 

those artificial reactions develoj^ed through many generations "formal" 
of religious, intellectual and social formalism. Human affec- sr^ee^uoi- 
tions were evil, and hence the heart was to be separated from tion 
the objects of natural desire. Human senses were untrust- 
worthy, and hence could not be made the basis of knowledge 
or of instruction. Human inclinations and instincts, springing 
from a nature depraved in its essence, were toward the evil and 
were to be eradicated. Natural interests, as expressions of the 
nature which both education and religion sought to repress and 
make over, were to be shunned in all educational processes. 
To the extent that an activity or task was difficult to perform Religious and 
intellectually and was distasteful emotionally, to this extent it est'irnate of^'^ 
possessed educational value. The first step in the moral edu- child nature 
cation was to " break the will of the child," which in its per- ^ith^he 
verseness but represented the evil of human nature. This traditional 
was to be followed in his social and moral education by the con- ^-^^^^ 
stant effort to mold the child into the artificial forms of conduct 
satisfactory to the judgment of the adult, even though such forms 
might conceal motives contradictory to the external expression. 



292 Brief Course in the History of Ediication 



As seen in the preceding chapter, the dominant psychological 
views implied the same attitude. The mind as a bundle of 
faculties was to be developed by exercising these various powers 
upon appropriate tasks whose value consisted in the difficulties 
they offered. These faculties were considered to have no 

necessary connection with 
one another, hence these 
disciplines were separate 
and distinct things. The 
highest of the faculties 
— the reasoning power — 
was to be developed by 
appropriate discipline in 
mathematics, logical dis- 
putations and the lan- 
guages. But the faculty 
upon which all the others 
depended, was the mem- 
ory. Discipline of the 
memory, then, took pre- 
cedence above all other 
exercises. The best train- 
ing for the memory was 
afforded by the mastery 
of material which had 
no inherent interest for the child. 

The social ideals of the time favored this same view. The 
child was considered but a miniature adult — of no value and of 
no rights until he could mimic the way of the adult. In this 
most artificial of all ages, in dress, in manners, in deportment, in 
pleasures, the child was molded on the pattern of his seniors. 
Previous to the Rousseau period, the child as he appeared in 
literature was merely the adult viewed through the wrong end of 
the telescope. He spoke as an adult, thought as an adult, acted 
as an adult. Educationally he studied the same subjects as the 



I9v "^H 


^M 


liEw'i^V 


^^^^^^1 


^J^viPf 


S^^H 


F^^t^ ^m^ 




mm 


I^^Qll£lLkiri^i f 1 iSrilUHlB 




"^ ' ' AiH|M^B|B 



A Fashion Plate of the early 
Eighteenth Century 

Showing the ideal of child-life as the adult in miniature. 



Naturalistic Tendency in Education 293 

adult, — preeminently the languages ; approached them from the 
same logical point of view, through formal grammar; mastered 
them through sheer effort of memory ; made the same formal use 
of them, in the same artificially organized life. 

All the subsidiary precepts of Rousseau were but concrete Rousseau's 
applications of his one general protest against this entire con- ^etl-^tir 
ception of education. " Take the reverse of the accepted prac- opposite to 
tice, and you will almost always do right," he advised. Hence ^nf°^^' 
he reiterated in a variety of forms the thought that, " Whatever 
may happen, abandon everything rather than have the child's The educa- 
tasks become irksome; for how much he learns is of no account, 
but only that he does nothing against his will." Thus in Rous- 
seau is found the negation of the conception of education of the Negation of 
Renaissance and of all of its subsequent development. *^^ Renais- 

^ ^ sance idea 

The Conception of Education as a Process — as the process of education 
of living — follows as a corollary from the preceding. Being 
a process, it lasts throughout life, or at least from birth to adult Education 
life, and finds its meaning for any particular stage, not in a ^^^ lifelong 
future state, but in the process itself. development 



tion of 
interest 



"What must we think," he asks, "of that barbarous education, which 
sacrifices the present to the uncertain future, which loads a child with 
chains of every sort, and begins by making him miserable in order to 
prepare for him, long in advance, some pretended happiness which it is 
probable he will never enjoy?" 

Education is no longer a procedure, — artificial, harsh, 
unsympathetic, repressive of all natural inclinations, — by 
which the child as a little man is made into a big man through 
the hands of the teacher. But, through allowing natural forces 
to have their way, it is the process of development into an en- 
joyable, rational, harmoniously balanced, useful, and hence 
natural life. The end is reached, not with adult life, but with 
each succeeding day, whenever life has its natural activities, its 
appropriate duties and its corresponding satisfactions. 

A Simplification of the Educational Process follows. If 
education as an artificial procedure, as a making over of the 



or growth 



294 Brief Course in the History of Education 

child at the hands of man on the model conventionalized by 
society, is done away with, the highly elaborated artificial 
methods of instruction have no further use. 

"Let us transform our sensations into ideas, but let us not jump ab- 
ruptly from sensible objects to intellectual objects; for it is through the 
first that we are to reach the second. In the first movement of the mind, 
let the senses always be the guides; let there be no books but the world 
and no other instruction than facts. The child who reads does not think, 
■ — he merely reads; he is not receiving instruction but learning words." 

The latter criticism is as pertinent in regard to much of 
school work now as in the days of Rousseau. He would have 
geography learned in the woods and fields, by the observa- 
tion of the position of the sun and the earth, by the study of 
the stream, the rain and the changes of temperature; astron- 
omy by the study of the heavenly bodies; botany by the 
study of plants; the necessary facts and fundamental prin- 
ciples of physics and chemistry by observation and experi- 
mentation ; mathematics as it is needed in these other activities 
and in economic relations; history alone through reading. 
Geography, history and all subjects were to begin at home; 
only that which can be thoroughly comprehended should 
be attempted, and only that which is mastered should be passed 
over, " In general, never substitute the sign for the thing 
itself, save when it is impossible to show the thing; for the 
sign absorbs the attention of the child and makes him forget 
the thing represented." Most widely heralded educational 
discoveries or reforms of the present are but more practical 
attempts at realizing these principles formulated by Rousseau. 

The Child the Positive Factor in Education. —To John 
Locke belongs the honor of writing the first book on educa- 
tion that deals primarily with the child; but to Rousseau 
belongs the honor of deriving his educational theories 
from the nature of the child. It may be admitted that Rous- 
seau had little actual knowledge of child life and child nature 
and that his sympathy for children was pure sentimentalism. 



Naturalistic Tendency in Education 295 

which was never converted into actual practice. It is true, 
nevertheless, that here for the first time education finds its 
purpose, its process and its means wholly within the child 
life and the child experience. An appropriate development 
of childhood is the purpose of each particular stage of educa- 
tion; the child's nature and the child's growth are to determine 
the process; the child's experience is to furnish the means. 
All of the pregnant reforms of Pestalozzi, of Herbart, of Froebel, 
and of the multitude of other reformers of lesser influence, 
thus find their origin in the teachings of Rousseau. In a 
similar way sympathy with childhood is emphasized as the Work of the 
qualification for all educational work. Made theory by Rous- bTbtSed^"^* 
seau, made practice by Pestalozzi, sympathy with the child, sympathy 
intellectually, morally, personally, has come to be recognized 
as an essential in the educative process. 

The Foundation of the Nineteenth Century Educa- Thefunda- 
tional Development. — In Rousseau's teachings, notwith- °ie"tfi 

° principles 

standing their extravagance, is to be found the truth enunciated 
upon which all educational development of the nineteenth by Rousseau 

^ _ ^ _ held by most 

century is based. Rousseau was the prophet denouncing modem 
the evil of the old; foretelling, yet seeing vaguely and in dis- ^^^'^^^o''^ 
torted outline, the vision of the new. He became the inspira- 
tion of those educational reformers who reduced his vagaries 
to practicable procedure. He was the forerunner of many 
who, all unconscious of their indebtedness to the despised 
revolutionist, have followed in the trails he blazed until now 
they have become the broad highway of common travel. The 
three interpretations which Rousseau gave to his doctrine 
of nature mark out the lines of educational development dur- 
ing the nineteenth century. 

As nature to Rousseau meant the native instincts, tendencies, Rousseau 
capacities of the human being as opposed to those acquired *^^ forerun- 
jthrough association with his fellows, he became the forerunner psychologists 
of the educational psychologists. There grew out from this, i" education 
especially in connection with the work of Pestalozzi, Herbart, 



296 Brief Course in the History of Education 

and Froebel, the most important and most fruitful develop- 
ment in the whole history of education. The fundamental 
idea of this tendency in educational thought derived from 
Rousseau is that education is a natural process. It starts 
from natural instincts and tendencies to action, and should 
be controlled by principles derived from the study of the child 
mind in development and of the adult mind in its function- 
ings. In a similar way Rousseau's teaching that the educa- 
tional material should be the facts and phenomena of nature, 
strongly reenforced the scientific tendency in modem education. 

Finally, in Rousseau's teaching that education should pre- 
pare the individual to live in a society wherein each should 
contribute by his own labor to his own support, should be 
bound by sympathy to all his fellow-men and by benevolence 
to all that needed his aid, he laid the foundation for the socio- 
logical tendency in education. In his individualism he clearly 
emphasizes the idea of a social education of a new type. This 
is seen in his introduction of an occupation as a component 
part of education, in his rejection of the formal education 
of the times fostered by and fostering in turn the dominant 
aristocratic classes of his day, and in his emphasis upon the 
emotional and moral as opposed to the intellectual aspect 
of education. 

EFFECT OF THE NATURALISTIC TENDENCY UPON 
SCHOOLS. — • So profound an influence does not have its 
effect on schools immediately. The effects are seen only when 
the results of these later tendencies, especially of the psycho- 
logical, are discovered. Immediately those results were slight; 
ultimately they were so general as to defy measurement. 

In France, where the influence of Rousseau on thought and 
sentiment was most profound, the old regime was so thoroughly 
intrenched in the social organization that change could come 
only as a result of a violent revolution. In addition to this, the 
teachings of the Emile were looked upon as direct attacks upon 
the aristocracy and upon the Church. Hence the vested in- 



Naturalistic Tende^icy in Education 297 

terests and authority of both were invoked against it. Many 
of the cahiers, or books of wrongs and grievances of the early 
Revolution, contain complaints and recommendations concern- 
ing schools. In general, a demand was made for a national plan 
for education. The work of the Revolution was chiefly to lay 
the basis for the institutional organization of education. Much 
was projected but little was carried out. Education was to be 
universal and to be free; but it was also to be largely political 
and social. Even this work, the discussion of which belongs 
more properly under the sociological tendency, was largely 
checked by the Napoleonic reaction. 

In England, where Rousseau's literary influence was very in England, 
great, and where his social ideas found many converts, his *^ results 

. . , are seen 

educational ideas received httle support. A considerable litera- chiefly in 
ture on the subject of education, influenced more or less by ^^^"^^^^^ 
Rousseau's ideas, now appeared, and the rather extensive 
child literature of the early nineteenth century was a direct 
outgrowth of the influence of the Entile. 

In Germany, the work of Basedow, Salzmann, Campe, and First reduced 
their schools was the immediate expression of the naturalistic [,° ^he^oer- 
views and represents the first positive formulation in practice of mans 
those revolutionary ideas given only a negative form by Rous- 
seau. 

Johann Bernard Basedow (i 723-1 790) gave, in his early Basedow's 
career and in his irregular course as a student, evidence of his ^^"^^^ "^^"^^^^ 
erratic though talented nature and of his unstable character. 
Becoming professor of philosophy in a Danish Academy (1753), 
he was later transferred (1763), and, though yet salaried by the 
government, was soon compelled to give up all teaching on 
account of his unorthodox views. From 1763 he deluged 
Germany for many years with a succession of pubhcations, and 
by his persistency succeeded in making his influence feU in 
spite of violent opposition on the part of all the traditional 
orthodox forces. For the first few years he was chiefly in- 
terested in reform in philosophical and religious teaching; most 



298 Brief Course in the History of EducaHon 

His educa- of his publications were of a religious character, propagating 
tionai works j^Q^^gsga^^'s idea of natural religion and morality. Coming under 
the influence of the Emile, from 1767 he directed his attention 
wholly to educational reform. In 1768 he issued An Address 
to the Friends of Humanity and to Persons in Power, on Schools, 
on Education, and its Influence on Public Happiness, which 
contained a plan for a complete system of reformed elementary 
education. Advertised through many preliminary publications, 



A "Naturalistic" School, from Basedow's Elementar-werk. 

supported by subscriptions from all parts of Europe from 
royalty and commonalty alike, this Elementarwerk finally ap- 
peared in 1774. At the same time was published his Book of 
Method for Fathers and Mothers of Families and of Nations. 
This Elementary Work, for children, which appeared in four 
volumes with one hundred plates of illustrations, was a com- 
bination of the ideas of Comenius, Bacon and Rousseau. It 



Naturalistic Tendency in Education 299 

was the first step since the time of Comenius to improve the 
character of the work of the school through the preparation of 
appropriate text-books and the radical revision of the subject- 
matter of school work. It aimed first of all to give a knowledge His educa- 
of things and of words quite similar to the encyclopedic plan of ^.^jpi^^ ^^^ 
the seventeenth-century reformer. This knowledge was pri- methods 
marily a knowledge of natural phenomena and forces ; in the next 
place, a knowledge of morals and of mental phenomena; and, 
lastly, of social duties, of commerce, of economic affairs. The 
" natural methods " of Rousseau appeared as the second great 
feature of the book. Thus through the " method of experience " 
children were to be taught to read, both the vernacular and 
Latin, without weariness and without loss of time. In a similar 
way the truths of religion and of morality were to be imparted 
without the accompanying prejudices, narrowness and formal- 
ism of existing religious teaching. These volumes were soon in 
almost every home of the middle and upper class in Germany, 
just as were the Emile and the New Heloise of Rousseau in the 
preceding decade. As Basedow aimed to reform private as well 
as public education, the effect of this propaganda was profound. 
Basedow and his followers, among whom Salzmann and Campe 
were the most important, soon produced a wholly new literature 
for children. As for the first time there was an education de- Children's 
signed wholly for children, not controlled by the needs, character 
and interests of adults, so also this was the first literature designed 
for children. 

Notwithstanding the many defects of Basedow's personality, 
and the fact that he was totally unable to carry out his own 
reform plans because he was so unpractical, Schlosser states 
that " he succeeded in effecting a complete change in the whole 
nature of education and instruction in Germany, which Rousseau 
was able to accomplish neither in his native country nor in France. ' ' 

The Philanthropinum.^ — In 1774 was founded the long- 

' A concrete description of the work of the Philanthropinum, translated from 
Von Raumer, is to be found in Barnard's German Teachers and Educators, p. 462. 



2,00 Brief Course in the History of Education 



The new 
" natural- 
istic" 
schools 



Educational 
principles 
embodied ia 
these new 
schools 



Manual 
training and 
object 
teaching 



Moral aim of 
all instruc- 
tion 



heralded institution, erected to illustrate the principles of re- 
formed education and termed the Philanthropinum. This 
institution at Dessau was the parent of many others, more or 
less short lived, but existing long enough to exert a profound 
influence on the education of children throughout the Teutonic 
countries. 

The fundamental idea of the reform was " education according 
to nature," which was interpreted to mean that children should 
be treated as children, not as adults; that languages should be 
taught by conversational methods, not through grammatical 
studies; that physical exercises and games should find a place 
in the child's education ; that early training should be connected 
with "motion and noise," since children naturally love these; 
that each child should be taught a handicraft for reasons partly 
educational, partly social; that the vernacular rather than the 
classical languages should constitute the chief subject-matter 
of education; that instruction should be connected with realities 
rather than with words. 

The strong emphasis upon the training of teachers reacted 
favorably upon the entire German school system. The intro- 
duction of " turning, planing and carpentering " into the 
regular course of study of the Philanthropinum for educational 
purposes is the earliest practical recognition of the purely 
educational value of constructive nature to be found in manual 
work. School instruction from objects and from pictures here 
found general use in a system of schools. The connection be- 
tween the out-of-door life and the process of instruction was 
made more intimate. The principle that all instruction has a 
moral because a practical outcome, and that formal moral in- 
struction is of httle value when not thus connected, was em- 
bodied in their work. It will be recognized that all of these 
ideas are worked out more explicitly by later reformers, especially 
Herbart, Pestalozzi and Froebel. 



Naturalistic Tendency in Education 301 



SUMMARY 

The dominance of arbitrary authority, exercised by absolutism in 
government, orthodoxy in religion, traditional classicism and the disci- 
plinary conception in education, produced during the eighteenth century 
a vehement and revolutionary reaction. The earlier aspect of this move- 
ment, known as the Illumination or the Enlightenment, was largely 
intellectual and aristocratic. It included a rationalistic revolt against 
orthodox religious views, an aristocratic revolt against absolutism in 
Church and state, a revolt against Puritanism in morals. It resulted 
in a skepticism in religion, a cynical formalism or polished immorality 
in conduct, and an aristocratic indifference to the rights and needs of 
the masses. The revolutionary tendency in the latter half of the century 
became known as the Naturalistic Movement, and was emotional rather 
than intellectual, democratic rather than aristocratic, and was directed 
toward social reform rather than toward class or individual aggrandize- 
ment. Voltaire was the leader in the first movement, Rousseau in the 
second. Rousseau formulated the new ideas in regard to social, family 
and political reform, and finally in the Emile in regard to education. 
Education should not aim to instruct, but simply to allow natural 
tendencies to work out their natural results. Education should not aim 
to repress or to mold but to shield from artificial influences. Natural 
instincts and interests should control, close contact with nature should 
furnish the occasion and means of education. Only in the adolescent 
period and later should attempt be made to supply wider knowledge 
and to establish connection with social life through moral training. Out of 
Rousseau's teaching came the "new education" of the nineteenth century 
ba.sed on interest. It gave direct impetus to the clear formation of the 
psychological, sociological and scientific conception of education. These 
are the various aspects of nine' eenth -century thought and practice in edu- 
cation. The immediate application of Rousseau's teachings was attempted 
by Basedow and the "philanthropinists." The successful amplification 
of the naturalistic doctrines was made later by Pestalozzi, Herbart and 
Froebel. 



302 Brief Course in tJie History of EdMcation 

Chronological Table of Educational Development during the 
Nineteenth Century 





Literary 


Scientists 






Political 


Men, 


AND 


Educational 




Events and 


Religious 


Philoso- 


Writings and 


Educational Events 


Personages 


Leaders, 

ETC. 


phers 


Educators 




1800. 


Goethe 


Hegel 


Pestalozzi, 


1803. Sunday-school Union f. 


1804. Bonaparte 


1749-1832 


1770-1831 


How (jcrtrude 


1805. Public School Society of 


emperor. 


Wordsworth 


Cuvier 


Teaches . 1801 


New York. 


1807. Class 


1770-1850 


I 769-1 832 


Jacotot 1770-1840 


1806. University of France f. 


distinctions 


Byron 


Comte 


Herbart, 1776-1841 


1806. Neef introduces 


and serfdom 


1 788-1824 


1798-1857 


Kroebel 1782-1852 


Pestalozzi in United Stales. 


abolished in 


Scott 


Faraday 


Thomas Arnold 


1808. First treatise on education 


Germany. 


1771-1832 


1791-1867 


1795-1842 


published in United States. 


1814. Bonaparte 


Coleridge 


Hamilton 


Rosmini 


1809. University of Berlin 


at Elba. 


1772 1834 


1788-1856 


1797-1855 


founded. 


1815. Congress 


Irving 


Liebig 


Herbart's General 


1808-1811. Von Humboldt head 


of Vienna. 


1783-1859 


1803-1873 


Pedagogics, 1806 


of German schools. 


Frederick 


Cooper 


J. S Mill 


Horace Mann 


1804-1844 Fellenberg's School 


William 


1789-1851 


1806-1873 


1796-1859 


at Holwyl. 


1797 1840 


Emerson 


Herbert 


Rosenkranz 


1811. National Society for 


1810-1830. Free- 


1803-1882 


Spencer 


1805-1879 


Promotion of Ed. of the Poor. 


dom of South 


Thackeray 


I 820-1903 


George Combe 


1813. First State superintendent 


American 


1811-1863 


Buckle, 


1788-1858 


ol ed. in United States (N.Y.). 


States. 


Dickens 


History 


Froebel, 


1814. British and Foreign School 


1817. Wartburg 


1812-1870 


of Civili- 


Education of 


Society. 


demonstration 




zation 


Man. . . 1826 


1818. Lancaster comes to U.S. 


for freedom. 




1857 


Spencer, Essay on 


1821. First legislative aid for 


1830. July 




Darwin, 


Education, 1861 


education of women (N.Y.). 


Revolution in 




Origin of 


Alexander Bain 


1821. First High School 


France. 




Species 


1818-1887 


(Boston). 


1830. Reform 




1859 


Henry Barnard 


1827. All schools free in 


bill in 




Agassiz 


1811-1900 


Massachusetts. 


England. 




1S07-1873 


Stoy . 1815-1885 


1835. Cousin's Report published 


1833. Slavery 




Darwin 


Otto Frick 


in United States. 


abolished in 




1811-1882 


1832 1892 


1837. Mount Holyoke seminary 


British 




Wallace 


Tuiskon Zeller 


for women. 


colonies. 




1820 


1817 1883 


1837-1849. Mann Secretary of 


1846. Corn 






R. H. Quick 


Mass. Bureau of Ed. 


laws repealed. 






1831-1891 


1837. First kindergarten. 


1848. French 








1837. First city superintendent 


Revolution. 








of schools. 


1851. New 








1838. First State normal school 


French 








in United States (Mass ). 


Empire. 








1843. School Board in New York 


1854. Crimean 








City. 


War. 








1850. Kindergartens forbidden in 


1870. Franco- 








Germany. 


Prussian War. 








i860. First kindergarten in U.S. 


1871. German 








1861. First Ph D. in U.S. 


Empire 








1862. Morrell land grant for 


founded. 








agricultural and technical 


1871. The 








education. 


Union of Italy. 








1867. Elective system at 

Harvard. 
1867. United States^ 

Commissioner of Education. 
1867. All State schools free in 

New York. 
i86g. English Endowed School 

Act. 
1870. Elem. Ed. Act in Eng. 


















1873 Kindergarten part of 










public school (St. Louis). 










i8go. Berlin School Conference. 










1896-1897. University of France 










reorganized. 



CHAPTER XI 



THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TENDENCY IN EDUCATION 



THE GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. — The psychological 
tendency is not clearly distinguishable in time, in place, or even 
in personnel from the sociological and the scientific tendencies. 
The three movements find their immediate antecedent in the 
naturalistic movement and are to be distinguished educationally 
chiefly by differences in emphasis and in point of view. The 
more important of these characteristics of the psychological 
tendency may be summarized as follows: — 

In its main features this tendency was merely the clarifying 
and developing of the principles of naturahstic education. Its 
basal thought was that education is not an artiiicial procedure 
by which one acquires a knowledge of the forms of language and 
literature or of formal knowledge of any sort, but that it is an 
unfolding of capacities implanted in human nature. The psy- 
chological tendency was an effort to state these ideas in scientific 
form and give them a concrete formulation in actual school 
procedures. 

It is true the psychological tendency sought a reconciliation 
of the conflict between the old "education of effort" and the 
new "education of interest." But since the old remained in- 
trenched for many decades of the nineteenth century, the chief 
work of the new was to destroy it by conflict. The rank and 
file of the new educators, without that grasp of the problem 
possessed by the great leaders in the movement, emphasized 
almost exclusively the importance of the new method and 
consequently of interest. Hence it was this aspect of conflict 
rather than that of reconciliation that was ever most prominent. 

303 



Relation to 
the natural- 
istic, scien- 
tific and 
sociological 
tendencies 



(i) A reduc- 
tion of 
naturalistic 
principles to 
schoolroom 
procedures 



(2) An at- 
tempted rec- 
onciliation 
of interest 
and effort : 
in reality a 
continuance 
of the con- 
flict 



304 Brief Course in the History of Education 

However profound may have been the effort of Herbart and 
Froebel to effect this reconcihation, in the popular conception 
there was an irreconcilable opposition. A brief extract, con- 
trasting the main ideas of these two views, will serve as an illus- 
tration. 



A review of 
one of 
Pestalozzi's 
works by 
Caroline 
Frye, in her 
Assistant 0} 
Education, 
Vol. ix, 
p. 263 
(1827) 



" Of the second work, Pestalozzi's Letters on Early Education, we have 
little to say. A book written for the inhabitants of Mars, if there are any, 
would almost as much come under our task of criticism. If there be a 
people between the Alps, in the bosom of whose offspring there is an innate 
principle of faith and love, that needs only to be cultivated and cherished 
by the sacred power of innocence, to produce pure morality and exalted 
devotion, this book belongs to them. It need not have been put into English, 
or any language into which the word of God has been translated; for it 
belies it utterly. We have no such children to educate, and therefore the 
book is useless to us. I could not help comparing the following passage, 
one among many such, of Pestalozzi — ' I would, in the first place, direct 
your attention to the existence and the early manifestation of a spiritual 
principle, even in an infant mind. I would put in the strongest light that 
there is in the child an active power of faith and love; the two principles 
by which, under the divine guidance, our nature is made to participate in 
the highest blessings that are in store for us. And this power is not, as 
other faculties are, in a dormant state in the infant mind. While all other 
faculties, whether mental or physical, present the image of utter helpless- 
ness, of a weakness which in its first attempts at exertion only leads to pain 
and disappointment, that same power of faith and love displays an energy, 
an intensity, which is never surpassed by its most successful efforts when 
in full growth' — we could not help comparing with curiosity this dream 
of Socinianism, with some sentences from a Christian author' we happened 
to take up on the same day: — 'No sooner do children begin to act at all, 
but we discover how universally sin has pervaded all the sources of intelli- 
gence. There is a greater pleasure in reflecting on the images of crime than 
on the character of piety; the conscience is enfeebled and oppressed; its 
voice is stifled and its actions perverted; the imagination delights to revel 
over scenes of iniquity, and is difficultly carried forward to anticipations of 
future happiness, glory, and praise: the will is enslaved by selfishness; 
the imitation of all that is wrong is most easy, — of all that is right is most 
onerous, — the judgment is prone to perpetual error; the evil passions grow 
and flourish, while the good are educated with difficulty.' The Christian 



Newham, On the Principles of Education. 



Psychological Tende^icy in Education 305 

mother will compare these opposing principles with the testimony of Scrip- 
ture and of her own heart, and will have no difficulty in deciding in which 
author to study the principles of education." 

The new educational conception of man's nature was closely (3) Educa- 
bound up with the similar thought now developing in science baTed^Jpon 
and philosophy. Educationally, "nature" now came to indi- a rational 
cate the nature or mind of man. The principles upon which ^^^"^ °°^ 
education was to be based were now sought for in a knowledge 
of the activities and the development of the human mind. The 
scientific formulation of these principles of psychology, through 
observation and experimentation, was hardly begun before the 
middle of the nineteenth century. The application of these 
principles to education is yet largely the work of the future. 
But the attempts toward such a foundation for education were 
begun in the early part of the century. 

The significant truth reached was that a more scientific 
interpretation of human nature was now possible, and that an 
adequate conception of education and formulation of more 
fruitful processes of instruction must be based upon the results 
of such study. To this general tendency, vague and indefinite 
as it was in its application to education, we have here given the 
term psychological. 

This tendency aimed at improvement in the character of (4) interest 
education; whereas the complementary movement, which in and method 
the same general way may be characterized as sociological, of education 
aimed at the more general diffusion of education. The modify- 
ing influence of these psychological tendencies was directed 
chiefly to improvement in the method of instruction, in the spirit 
of the schoolroom, in the character and training of the teacher, 
and in the popularization of a broader and truer conception of 
the nature of education. 

Thus there followed a sympathy for childhood, a knowledge (5) Sym- 
of the child, of the child mind, of the child's interests and ^^Jknowi- 
abilities, that were entirely absent from the schoolroom in all edge of, 
previous ages. While the actual knowledge of the child mind '^^'^^°°'^ 



3o6 Brief Course in the History of Education 



(6) Attention 
to the 
elementary 
stage in 
education 



(7) Educa- 
tion defined 
in terms of 
individual 
development 



was at first slight and was for a long time gained by empirical 
means alone, yet educational practice came to be based upon a 
study of childhood, and the theories concerning education came 
to be formulated from data gathered during actual contact with 
the child. 

Consequently, the chief interest in education was diverted 
to an entirely different phase of the educational process. For 
many centuries, it will be recalled, the interest in education was 
in the secondary and higher stages. All the early reformers, 
the realists as well as the humanists, thought especially of the 
acquisition of foreign languages and literature as the chief work 
of education. Little or no attention was given to the elementary 
stage. Comenius, it is true, wrote of infant and vernacular 
schools, but he supervised and wrote text-books for the Latin 
schools. The chief immediate interest of almost all those 
participating in this new tendency was in the elementary stage. 
From that time to the present, the formulation of educational 
theory and the improvement in educational practice have, with 
few exceptions, related primarily to elementary education. The 
attempt to apply many of these principles in unmodified form to 
higher stages of education has often been detrimental in its 
results. 

A fundamental conception of the psychological tendency was 
that education is the process of the development of the individual. 
This accorded with the individualizing tendencies of the later 
eighteenth and early nineteenth century, with the ideas of social 
progress, of biological development, and of evolution in all its 
scientific and philosophical implications, that during the same 
period were becoming clarified. The thought and even the 
form accepted for two or three generations was that given by 
Pestalozzi; namely, that education is "the harmonious develop- 
ment of all the powers of the individual." The same. general 
idea, in different terminology, due to more accurate knowledge 
of psychology, is now expressed in terms of "organization of 
acquired habits of action or tendencies to behavior." This 



Psychological Tendency in Education 307 



conception of education in terms^ of individual development 
is an essential feature of the psychological conception of educa- 
tion, and is one great contribution of the late eighteenth and 
the early nineteenth century to education. 

This conception has its sociological significance also, and 
coincides with the tendency toward universal education in one 
respect. For if education is the process of development of the 
individual, if it is at basis a natural rather than an artificial 
process, then it is a process through which all human beings 
pass, and a process from the regulation and direction of which 
all can profit. Consequently there results an emphasis upon 
popular and universal education that was not possible so long 
as the chief interest was in higher education, and so long as 
education was the process of giving to the child or forcing on 
the child the ideas, emotional reactions and activities of adults. 

The psychological movement possessed two aspects. One, 
practical and concrete in 'character, attempted through ex- 
perimentation to work out general principles. The other, 
metaphysical in its characteristics, aimed at the formulation 
of the logic of education. The men representing the practical 
movement — ■ Pestalozzi, Herbart, Froebel — merely expressed 
the dominant ideas gained from the thought movement typified 
by Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Schleiermacher and Hegel. Only 
the representatives of the practical movement will be con- 
sidered here. 

THE PESTALOZZI AN MOVEMENT. Character and Sig- 
nificance of his Work. — It must be understood at the outset 
that much more is included under this subject than the personal 
work and influence of Pestalozzi. It is a very common error to 
overestimate the importance of this one reformer in the history 
of education, and a gross exaggeration to attribute to him the 
entire educational reform movement of the early part of the 
nineteenth century. Pestalozzi merely made positive and con- 
crete the negative and general educational principles enunciated 
iby Rousseau; and, as we have seen, there were many others, 



(8) The 
bearing of 
the psycho- 
logical inter- 
pretation on 
universal 
education 



The theo- 
retical and 
logical vs. 
the concrete 
and practi- 
cal phases 
of the 
movement 



The Pesta- 

lozzian 
Movement 
includes the 
work of 
many educa- 
tors 



3o8 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Pestalozzi 
merely laid 
foundation 
for further 
reforms 



Pestalozzi 's 
recognition 
of the 
limitations 
of his own 
work 



The real 
importance 
of Pestalozzi 



notably Basedow and his group, who were successfully engaged 
in the same work. Moreover, the ideas and practices generally 
grouped under his name are largely due to the work of his 
assistants and of the innumerable teachers of succeeding genera- 
tions who have labored along the lines first indicated by him. 
Later educational theorists, especially Herbart and Froebel, 
possessed all of the practical insight of Pestalozzi, with a fuller 
philosophical penetration than his, and a broader knowledge. 
They have built upon his work a more extensive and stable 
structure of educational doctrine than the Swiss reformer was 
able to work out. 

No one, however, has been more just than Pestalozzi himself 
in recognizing the limitations of his work, and in realizing that 
the particular form which he gave to his ideas was merely tenta- 
tive. This point, made emphatic by the reformer, is often over- 
looked by his expositors and disciples. 

The value of our study of Pestalozzi in connection with the 
general psychological tendency in education lies not in the 
acceptance of his views as final, but in the recognition of his 
theories as containing the germs of modem educational ideas. 

In the face, then, of his lack of any philosophical and organiz- 
ing ability, his lack of accuracy, of consistency, and of practical 
success, it becomes necessary to restate the basis of his impor- 
tance in educational history. What he did do was to emphasizes 
the new purpose in education, but vaguely perceived, where 
held at all, by others ; to make clear the new meaning of educa- 
tion which existed in rather a nebulous state in the public 
mind; to formulate an entirely new method, based on new 
principles, both of which were to receive a further development 
In subsequent times, and to pass under his name; and, finally, 
to give an entirely new spirit to the schoolroom. He it was 
who first made clear and forced upon the public the position 
that the whole problem of education was to be considered from 
the point of view of the developing mind of the child. The 
significance of much of Pestalozzi's work lies in the fact that 



Psychological Teiideiicy hi Education 309 

experimentation was now substituted for tradition as a basis Experiment 
for educational work. Hence its value consists, not in any ^•^- ^^'|^*'°'^ 

' -^ as tJie basis 

particular form of experiment, but in the final results attained of work in 
or yet to be attained. Consequently, more than in the case of ^ ^^^'^^^^ 
any other man in the history of education, it is necessary to 
study Pestalozzi's life and experience in order to understand his 
ideas. They are the direct outgrowth of the experimental life 
which he led. 

Life and Works. — Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746- 1826) was early influence of 
influenced by the naturalistic movement, especially by Emile, -^t^^h^u^ht: 
and became an ardent revolutionist as all humanitarians then on Pestalozzi 
must have become. Abandoning in turn his preparation for 
the ministry, for the law and for public service, he entered 
finally upon an agricultural life, with the double purpose of 
improving a waste tract of land through new methods of culti- 
vation and of living a life in accord with the prevalent naturalistic 
ideals. Failing in this business venture, he turned the establish- 
ment into a philanthropic institute for destitute children. 
Meanwhile, in the education of his own child, he was led to see 
many of the deficiencies as well as the excellencies of the educa- 
tion described in Rousseau's Emile. Thus began his life's 
great task, m the positive formulation and modification of these 
ideas. His first educational work, entitled A Journal 0} a 
Father, — one of the earliest examples of child study, — was a 
further result of his experiences in the education of his son. 

The philanthropic venture mentioned above was an educa- Experiment 
tional experiment as well, for it was but an application of the ^* Neuhof in 
doctrine advocated by the naturalists, that the character of an tion of 
individual is shaped by his environment. Reduce this environ- °'^p^'^^'^^ 
ment to as nearly natural conditions as possible, they held, and 
character will be formed or developed. From 1 775-1 780 
Pestalozzi conducted what was probably the first "industrial 
school for the poor." The children were engaged in raising 
special farm products, in spinning and weaving of cotton and 
in other occupations. While so engaged they also spent some 



3IO Brief Course m the History of Education 

time in reading and in committing passages to memory and 
especially in arithmetical exercises. There was no real connec- 
tion between the occupations and the intellectual activities, but 
Pestalozzi demonstrated that the two could at least go on to- 
gether. But the combined functions of manager, farmer, 
manufacturer, merchant, schoolmaster, were beyond the abihty 
of the reformer, and the experiment failed. 

During the next eighteen years, 1 780-1 798, Pestalozzi, as a 
participant in the revolutionary movement, devoted himself 
cliiefly to literary activity. The fundamental thought of all his 
writings, whether on political or educational subjects, was the 
same. Social and political reforms were to be brought about by 
education — not the current education, but a new process of 
development that would result in the moral and intellectual 
reform of the people. This principle is complementary to the 
partial one upon which he based his work at Neuhof. 

The most popular of all Pestalozzi's writings, the one that 
exerted the most influence, was his Leonard and Gertrude, the 
first volume of which was published in 1 781 . Written as a novel, 
it popularized the idea that he initiated in practical reform a 
generation later. The purpose of the book was to depict the 
simple village life of the people and the great changes caused 
therein by the insight and devotion of a single ignorant woman, 
Gertrude. By her industry and patience and skill in educating 
her children she saves her husband, Leonard, from idleness 
and drink. Neighbors, children and neighboring families are 
finally brought within the influence of the new ideas; and by the 
simple methods of this peasant woman this new purpose in 
education effects the reform of the entire village. What was 
done in Bonal, Pestalozzi held could be done in every village. 
This was his mission in life : to work out in detail the methods 
of this education that was to effect the regeneration of society 
by securing for every child that moral and intellectual develop- 
ment which was his natural right and inheritance. 

In 1798 there occurred a complete change in Pestalozzi's 



Psychological Tendency in Education 311 



career. He at length realized that the way to establish education Turns prac- 
tical sd 

teacher 



as the means to social reform was to demonstrate in a practical ^'^^ ^"^ °° ' 



way its efficiency. Consequently, he turned schoolmaster. 
No more remarkable testimony concerning the value and the 
validity of his fundamental educational ideas can be found 
than in the profound and lasting influence which he has exerted. 
This man who did not begin to teach until fifty years of age and 
who, from the practical point of view, failed in every enterprise 
he undertook in his long life, after all has had more influence 
than any other one person in the educational progress of the 
nineteenth century. One chief reason for this was that his ideas 
were the results of experimentation. Consequently the truths 
reached were not completed and closed formulas, but rather 
suggestions for the guidance of the work of education. Since 
the concrete personal elements to be dealt with are never fully 
determinable in advance, education must always partake some- 
what of the nature of experimentation. 

In the year mentioned, Pestalozzi accepted the charge in one The orphan 
of the districts of Switzerland of a large number of children ^^^0°' ^'^ 

° Stanz 

who had been made orphans through the massacre of the people 
by the French soldiery. With these orphans at Stanz were first 
worked out the germs of the new educational practices. As in 
the case of his earlier experience, his fundamental purpose was 
to combine educational activities with handwork. But now he 
saw not only that the two could be carried on together, but that, 
if an approach differing from that of the ordinary schoolroom 
was made, much of the experience that was most valuable for 
mental development came directly from those activities in which 
the children were immediately interested. But the fortunes of 
v/ar terminated this experiment in less than a year. 

In the following year, Pestalozzi, now a discredited visionary, village 
was accepted as assistant teacher in the village at Burgdorf. ^t^^r'^or^'^ 
For the cause of educational reform this brief experience was 
fraught with great importance, for here was lirst worked out 
,the significance of the object lesson, not as a mere means of 



312 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Principles of 

education 

formulated 



An educa- 
tional 

propaganda 
starts from 
Burgdorf 



The insti- 
tute at 
Yverdun 



gaining knowledge of the word, or even of the thing, as with 
Comenius and earlier reformers, but as a means of mental de- 
velopment. Here Pestalozzi first announced his great aim, "I 
wish to psychologize education." The recognition that the 
public failed to give was furnished by some friends among the 
progressive officials and by some schoolmasters, appreciative of 
the great significance of these new ideas, who now attached 
\themselves as assistants. A private school, partially endowed 
by the government, was established. Here for some four years 
Pestalozzi continued to experiment along the line of the new 
thought, both with the pupils and with the teachers. 

The great purpose now clearly held before him was to answer 
the fundamental educational question, which was a challenge 
to the existing education respecting its purpose and its means. 
These inquiries were to determine what knowledge and what 
practical abilities were necessary for the child, and how they 
could be furnished to the child or obtained by him. This period 
produced Pestalozzi's most systematic work — How Guirude 
Teaches her Children (1801) — which was an attempt to answer 
Ithe above questions. 

His work at Burgdorf, directed both toward the education of 
the children and the training of teachers, was watched with 
great interest by publicists and philanthropists, was assisted 
by the government, and w^as widely discussed through pamphlet 
and magazine controversy. But withdrawal of the meager 
though necessary support, together with disagreement among 
the directors of the institute themselves, led to its abandonment. 
Pestalozzi then withdrew to Yverdun for his last and longest 
experiment. 

Among this French-speaking people, with whom he believed 
his reform would make more rapid headway, Pestalozzi labored 
for twenty years. Here, more than hitherto, his efi"orts were 
directed toward the training of teachers and direct experimenta- 
tion in reforming educational practices. 

Influence of Pestalozzi on Education, (a) As to Purpose. — 



Psychological Tendency in Education 313 



Throughout his long life Pestalozzi was moved by the convic- 
tion that we have found to be common to most educational 
reformers since the early Renaissance; namely, that education 
is to become the chief means to social reform. This idea, how- 
ever, possessed a peculiar significance during the latter half of 
the eighteenth century, since that was a period in which the 
greatest variety of remedies for social evils was advocated. 
Every form of Utopia found its devotee, while the practical 
means chosen by all was revolution. Throughout this period 
of turmoil, the voice of Pestalozzi in suggesting education — a 
new education — as the means for social regeneration became 
clearer and clearer. 

Few among those that in previous periods had held education 
to be the means for social regeneration had considered that it 
was necessary for the masses. Such as had were chiefly the 
Reformation leaders, who viewed the entire subject from the 
rehgious point of view. Even those, such as Comenius, who 
took a broader point of view and held that the education of the 
masses in every phase of knowledge was desirable for reasons 
other than the religious, were far from the thought of Pestalozzi. 
The latter had in view a conception of education that had little 
or nothing to do with the comprehensive encyclopedism of Come- 
nius, but related solely to the development of the child's nature, 
mental, moral, physical. In other words, what Rousseau had 
demanded in a theoretic way for one individual, Emile, Pesta- 
lozzi demanded for every child, no matter how poor and humble 
his surroundings or how limited his capacities. Hence Pesta- 
lozzi's demand for universal education of the masses possesses 
a significance only grasped when one conceives the difference 
between the old conception of education and that which he 
advanced. Pestalozzi gave a saner interpretation to Rousseau's 
doctrine concerning the detrimental influence of the arts and 
sciences. He held that through the identification of learning 
in the literary sense with education, popular education comes 
to be a mere form without any resulting benefits for the masses. 



Education 
the means to 
social 
reform 



Education 
for the 
masses not 
as a religious 
necessity but 
as a natural 
right 



Modification 
of Rous- 
seau's 
theory of 
the evil in- 
fluence of 
the arts and 
sciences 



314 Binef Course in the History of Education 

while the learned classes grow into greater power and into in- 
difference to the needs of the masses. In How Gertrude Teaches 
he says : — 

"Europe, with its system of popular teaching, has fallen into error, or 
rather it has lost its way. On one side it has risen to an immense height in 
the sciences and arts; on the other it has lost the whole foundation of natural 
culture for the bulk of the people. No part of the world has risen so high; 
ho part has sunk so low. Our continent resembles the great image men- 
tioned by the prophet; its golden head touches the clouds, but popular 
instruction, which should bear this head, is like the feet of clay. In Europe 
the culture of the people has become vain babbling, as fatal to faith as to 
true knowledge; an instruction of mere words which contains a little dream- 
ing and show which cannot give us the calm wisdom of faith and love, but, 
on the contrary, leads to unbelief and superstition, to selfishness and hard- 
ness. It is indisputable that the mania for words and books, which has 
absorbed everything in our popular instruction, has been carried so far 
that we cannot possibly remain long as we are. Everything convinces 
me that the only means of preserving us from remaining at a civil, moral, 
and religious dead level is to abandon the superficiality, the piecemeal, 
and infatuation of our popular instruction, and to recognize intuition 
{i.e. mental development) as the true fountain of knowledge." 

(b) The Neiu Meaning 0} Education. — In defining the new 
conception Pestalozzi started, as did Rousseau, with the con- 
trast between the accepted educational usages and the natural 
development of the child. What education should mean he 
indicates in the following words : — 

"Sound education stands before me symbolized by a tree planted near 
fertilizing waters. A little seed, which contains the design of the tree, its 
form and its properties, is placed in the soil. The whole tree is an unin- 
terrupted chain of organic parts, the plan of which existed in its seed and 
root. Man is similar to the tree. In the new-born child are hidden those 
faculties which are to unfold during life. The individual and separate 
organs of his being form themselves gradually into unison, and build up 
humanity in the image of God. The education of man is a purely moral 
result. It is not the educator who puts new powers and faculties into man, 
and imparts to him breath and life. He only takes care that no untoward 
influence shall disturb nature's march of development. The moral, 
intellectual, and practical powers of man must be nurtured within himself 
and not from artificial substitutes. Thus, faith must be cultivated by our 



Psychological Tendency ht Education 315 

own act of believing, not by reasoning about faith; love, by our own act 
of loving, not by fine words about love; thought, by our own act of think- 
ing, not by merely appropriating the thoughts of other men ; and knowledge, 
by our own investigation, not by endless talk about the results of art and 
science." 

Education as conceived by Pestalozzi is but the organic Education as 
development of the individual, - — mental, moral, physical. This °''g^"'<^ 

i _ ' ' ... development 

development comes in each of these phases through activities 
initiated by spontaneous desire for action. These lead to 
growth along lines which are predetermined by the nature of 
the child. Such development does not come by forms of pro- 
cedure established by custom. To quote the definition in its 
more traditional form, education is the natural, progressive, 
harmonious development of all the powers and faculties of the 
human being. 

Starting from the new purpose that Pestalozzi gave to edu- Education 
cation, the elevation of the common people from their ignorance, ^^ sodd"^ 
squalor and misery, he was compelled to give to it a new mean- development 
ing. The growth of the individuals composing the submerged 
portion of humanity into the moral and intellectual maturity 
for which they as well as the chosen few were destined, con- 
stituted education. He found in each individual the germs of 
all the powers, sentiments, aptitudes, that were needed for their 
successful and useful participation in their walks of life and in 
the satisfaction of the needs of society. The existing education 
did not accomplish this adjustment. It sought merely to ac- 
quaint the child with forms, — forms of religious dogma through 
the catechism, forms of thought through the mere ability to 
read words, forms of practical or scientific procedure through 
the memoriter knowledge of mathematics, or the forms of cul- 
ture through the dead languages. Real education w^as to do 
something infiniteh^ greater. It was to develop in the child the 
elements of power implanted there by nature, by furnishing to 
him, in appropriately selected and graded series, the materials 
of experience needed for the natural exercise of these capacities. 



3i6 Brief Course hi the History of Education 



Relation to 
the early 
formulation 
of the 
theory of 
evolution 



The charac- 
ter of the 
schoolmaster 
in the tradi- 
tional school 



This general idea of growth and of organic development 
through activity had been formulated by Lamarck into a general 
philosophy or scientific hypothesis, and had received many 
special applications. It was Pestalozzi's work to apply it to 
the schoolroom, and to attempt to organize activities appro- 
priate both to intellectual and to moral development. 

Influence on Educational Means and Method. — The signifi- 
cance of the Pestalozzian reform in method can be appreciated 
only when the character of the contemporary schoolroom is 
kept in mind. The village watchman, the bricklayer, the rope- 
maker, the crippled soldier, the widow, or any one whose occu- 
pation did not consume all his time or furnish him with com- 
plete living, was chosen as schoolmaster. More frequently the 
convenient house which they occupied was of greater importance 
than their qualification as teachers. The method in which 
this work was done is thus described by Diesterweg: — 

Methods of "Each child read by himself; the simultaneous method was not known. 

^^ "!f- ''^ O"^^ after another stepped up to the table where the master sat. He pointed 
tional school ^^^ one letter at a time, and named it; the child named it after him; he 
drilled him in recognizing and remembering each. They then took letter 
by letter of the words, and by getting acquainted with them in this way, 
the child gradually learned to read. This was a difficult method for him, 
a very difficult one. Years usually passed before any facility had been 
acquired; many did not learn in four years. It was imitative and purely 
mechanical labor on both sides. To understand what was read was sel- 
dom thought of. The syllables were pronounced with equal force, and the 
reading was without grace or expression. Wiere it was possible, but 
unnaturally and mechanically, learning by heart was practiced. The 
children drawled out texts of Scripture, Psalms, and the contents of the 
catechism from the beginning to end; short questions and long answers 
alike, all in the same monotonous manner. Anybody with delicate ears 
who heard the sound once would remember it all his life long. There are 
people yet living, who were taught in that unintelligent way, who can 
corroborate these statements. Of the actual contents of the words whose 
sounds they had thus barely committed to memory little by little, the 
children knew absolutely almost nothing. They learned superficially 
and understood superficially. Nothing really passed into their minds; 
at least nothing during their school years. The instruction in singing was 



Psychological Tendency in Education 317 



no better. The master sang to them the psalm tunes over and over, until 
they could sing them, or rather screech them, after him. Such was the 
condition of instruction in our schools during the sixteenth, seventeenth, 
and two thirds of the eighteenth centuries; confined to one or two studies, 
and those taught in the most imperfect and mechanical way." 

While this was the character of the schools of Switzerland 
and of Germany, those of other countries were no better, if as 
good. That such was the condition of the average district 
school in the United States well into the nineteenth century and 
of the average elementary school in England much later is well 
known. The school which Pestalozzi wished to substitute was 
to be a transformed home, approximating the same relationships, 
duplicating the same spirit, seeking the same ends ; that is, the 
moral and intellectual development and the material better- 
ment of the child. It is the peculiar excellence of Pestalozzi that 
he was the first to make great progress in indicating the practi- 
cal way in which these new educational ideas could be reahzed. 

The essential thought of the Pestalozzian method is compara- 
tively simple. The fundamental endeavor was to analyze 
knowledge in any particular line into its simplest elements, as 
these present themselves naturally to the attention of the child. 
These were to be acquired not simply in their form, but in their 
real inner meaning by the process of observation, or sense im- 
pression (intuition, it was' often called). These elements of 
knowledge were further to be developed by a progressive series 
of exercises graded by almost imperceptible degrees into a 
continuous chain. Such exercises were to be based primarily 
upon the study of objects rather than upon the study of words. 
The object lesson, then, was the core of the method. But it 
was not the object lesson as often employed in later times, for 
the mere purpose of obtaining a knowledge of the object, or 
even of developing powers of observation. Its real use was as 
a basis for the entire mental development of the child. " Mental" 
arithmetic, the syllabic and phonetic methods in language 
work, and the study of geography and of nature in direct con- 



Universality 
of such 
schools 



The new 
school, a 
transformed 
home 



The induc- 
tive method 
applied to 
educational 
procedure 



The object 
lesson 



3i8 Brief Coicrse in the History of Education 



Effect on 
text-books 



Summary of 
Pestalozzian 
principles 



tact with natural environment were some of the innovations in 
method. 

In general, the arrangement of all modern text-books is a 
direct though not necessarily an immediate outgrowth of 
Pestalozzi's efforts at analyzing the subject into its simplest ele- 
ments and proceeding then, by a gradual increase in the com- 
plexity of the material, to build up a connected and symmetrical 
understanding of the subject. The old method of beginning 
with a mastery of rules and principles as in arithmetic, of the 
rules of abstract form in language, or of most general relations, 
as in geography, history and the natural sciences, has been 
gradually superseded. 

Morf, one of Pestalozzi's ablest disciples, summarizes the 
general principles of these methods as follows: — 

(i) Observation, or sense-perception (intuition), is the basis of instruc- 
tion. (2) Language should always be linked with observation (intuition), 
i.e. with an object or content. (3) The time for learning is not the time for 
judgment and criticism. (4) In any branch, teaching should begin with the 
simplest elements and proceed gradually according to the development 
of the child, that is, in psychologically connected order. (5) Sutlicient 
time should be devoted to each point of the teaching in order to secure 
the complete mastery o.f it by the pupil. (6) Teaching should aim at de- 
velopment, and not at dogmatic exposition. (7) The teacher should respect 
the individuality of the pupil. (8) The chief end of elementary teaching ia, 
not to impart knowledge and talent to the learner, but to develop and 
increase the powers of his intelligence. (9) Power must be linked to 
knowledge, and skill to learning. (10) The relation between the teacher 
and the pupil, especially as to discipline, should be based upon and ruled 
by love. (11) Instruction should be subordinate to the higher aim of 
education. 



Sympathy, 
the only basis 
of relation- 
ship between 
teacher and 
pupil 



In-jiuence on the General Spirit of the Schoolroom. — In regard 
to method, as Pestalozzi himself stated in an exaggerated way, 
"half the world" was working on the same problem. The new 
purpose in education was held by many others, — public men, 
religious leaders, philosophers and educators. In defining the 
new meaning of education, Pestalozzi was but making more 



Psychological Tendency in Education 319 



explicit the ideas of Rousseau, Basedow and others. His 
pecuHar excellence was in making evident, through all his 
writings and all his work, that a new spirit must pervade the 
schoolroom, that both teacher and pupil must breathe a new 
atmosphere, — the atmosphere of the home. This change of 
spirit is clearly indicated by a comparison of accompanying 
illustrations; one of the typical German school before Pesta- 
lozzi's time, the other of Pestalozzi's school at Stanz. In other 
lines, more recent times have developed the germs of the ideas 
suggested by the unlettered reformer; but in this one respect, 
every modern schoolroom is so directly indebted to him that he 
may yet be called, as he was by his own teachers and followers, 
"Father Pestalozzi." 

THE HERBARTIAN MOVEMENT. Its Relation to Pesta- 
lozzianism. — Herbart built upon the work of Pestalozzi, but 
soon elaborated a scheme of educational principles far more 
fundamental, (i) The chief practical emphasis of Pestalozzi's 
work was on training in sense-perception. While these exercises 
in observation were for the purpose of developing "clear ideas," 
Pestalozzi did not show how mental assimilation and mental 
growth take place from this starting point. Herbart showed how 
the product of sense-perception could be converted into ideas, 
through the apperceptive process, and how knowledge could be 
made to bear upon moral character through the process of in- 
struction. (2) Pestalozzi made the study of the physical world 
through sense -perception the chief activity of the school. Her- 
bart made the moral presentation of the universe the chief end 
of instruction. (3) As a result, the emphasis which Pestalozzi 
placed on arithmetic, geography and the nature studies is re- 
placed in Herbart's theory by an emphasis on the classical 
languages, on literature and on history. (4) Pestalozzi an- 
nounced his purpose of "psychologizing education." But, 
while he rejected the old psychology, he did not and could not 
construct any system of his own. Herbart did quite as notable 
work in this line as in constructive educational thought. (5) In 



Difference, 
(i) in use of 
"observa- 
tion" or 
training in 
sense- per- 
ception; 



(2) in con- 
ception of 
ultimate 



(3) in appro- 
priate sub- 
jects of 
stud}' ; 

(4) in their 
knowledge 
and use of 
psychology ; 



320 Brief Course in the History of Education 

(5) in logical general, Herbart's work was the antithesis of Pestalozzi's, in 

their work that it was logical and philosophical in character, while Pesta- 
lozzi's possessed no logical form or system and little definitely 
formulated philosophical basis. The one possessed the com- 
prehensive view and calm logic of the philosopher; the other, 
the intense emotionalism and strong purpose of the reformer 
working toward immediate betterment, though with no adequate 
view of the ultimate end. 

His school Life and Works of John Frederick Herbart (i 776-1841). — 

training There is little in the life of Herbart that throws light upon his 
educational doctrines. Passing through the traditional course 
of the gymnasium and university, at the age of twenty-one he 

His teaching left the university for a three years' experience as private tutor. 

experience pj-Qm this experience he formulated much of his educational 
doctrine, and enunciated the belief that any real knowledge of 
the psychology of education can be gained, not from the study 
of children in masses, but only from a prolonged intimate study 
of the mental development of a few individuals. He returned 
later to study and then to give instruction in philosophy and in 
education in the University of Gottingen. Here and at the 

His univer- University of Konigsberg he spent the remainder of his life. 

sity career ^^ ^^ latter place he established his pedagogical seminar with 
a practice school attached, the forerunner of the university type 
(^ instruction and experimentation in the subject of education. 
While as a member of school commissions he took some part in 
educational reform, his life for the most part was spent in 
investigation, lecturing and publication. 

The place of Herbart's Psychology. — The movement which Locke began 

the child in j^ making the child the center of educational endeavor and 

education o 

pedagogical theory; which Rousseau established in general form 
through his brilliant critical and destructive work in the form of 
investigative literature; which Pestalozzi brought down to the 
schoolroom and made concrete in the hands of every teacher — 
that movement Herbart made permanent by giving it an actual 
scientific basis in place of the imaginative one of Rousseau and 



Psychological Tendency in Education 321 

the empirical one of Pestalozzi. We are here concerned only 
with the main educational applications, not with an exposition 
of Herbart's psychology. This at most points has been de- 
veloped and modified through the investigation of the interven- 
ing century. At many important points his theory has been 
entirely superseded. 

' The fundamental point is that Herbart established educa- Fundamental 
tional work upon the basis of a unified mental fife and develop- herbart's 
ment. As previously noted, the prevailing psychology was the psychology, 
Aristotelian "faculty" psychology, popular even to-day. To ^"Uj^fjjfg 
Herbart, the soul is a unity, not endowed with intuitive or inborn 
faculties, but a blank at birth, possessing but the one power 
of entering into relation with its environment through the nerv- The mind 
ous svstem. Through these relations the mind is furnished develops 

■' " ■ . through Its 

with its primary "presentations" of sense-perception, and own experi- 
from these the whole mental life is developed. The interaction <^"ces, 

^ , . through 

of these presentations leads through generalization to concepts, acquisition of 

and by similar processes of interaction to acts of judgment ^-^^g^,!"^^' 
and reasoning. What the teacher has to work with is a mass 

of presentations, coming from two main sources, — experience, Education 

contact with nature; and intercourse, contact with societv. controls this 

process of 

Through the expansion of the one original power the teacher assimilation 
has to develop knowledge from experiences and sympathy from or growth 

intercourse. "^ determine 

The mind or soul is built up or acquires a content, not through ^"^JJ^JI^^"^^. 
the development of inherent faculties, but through its own ex- ter 
periences. It is inherently neither good nor bad, but develops 
one way or the other according to external influences, — that is, 
according to what it receives in the way of presentations and the 
manner of their combinations. Two corollaries of tremendous 
importance to education follow: (i)The chief characteristic of 
the m.ind is its power of assimilation; (2) education, which 
determines what presentations the mind receives and also the 
manner in which they are combined into higher mental processes, 
is the chief determining force in shaping both mind and character. 



32 2 Brief Cotu^se ui the History of Education 



This basal 
assimilative 
characteris- 
tic is apper- 
ception 



The nature 
of the will as 
neither free 
nor fatalis- 
tically de- 
termined, 
but as an out- 
growth of 
experiences 
which can be 
controlled 



The aim of 
education is 
virtue 



The moral 
presentation 
of the world 
is the pur- 
pose of in- 
struction 



Herbart's educational doctrines are thus founded upon the 
assimilative function of the mind, — apperception. In brief, 
apperception is the assimilation of ideas involved in the relation- 
ships of a new experience by means of ideas already acquired. 
So far as the immediate importance of this doctrine to the 
teacher is concerned, it is immaterial whether one agrees with 
Herbart in rejecting all inherent constitutive powers of the mind 
or not. For such original powers, if existent, are beyond con- 
trol, and the best that the teacher can do under any circum- 
stances is to direct the development of the mind through con- 
trol of this assimilative process. 

Conception and Purpose of Education. — Herbart derived his 
conception of education from philosophy as he derived its aim 
from ethics. The will is not any independent faculty of 
the mind that can originate actions that are independent of 
ideas or thought processes, but it is a functioning of the mind, 
growing out of and wholly dependent upon the ideas or presen- 
tations possessed by the mind. This conception of the will is 
fundamental and must be kept in mind throughout any con- 
sideration of Herbart's doctrines. The will is to be viewed as the 
product of experience, not, as popularly viewed, as the determin- 
ing cause of action. The apperceptive process is fundamental, 
because ideas lead to action, and action determines character. 
I The aim of education, according to Herbart, is ethical. "The 
cine and the whole work of education may be summed up in 
the concept, — morality," is the opening sentence of the Msthetic 
Presentation. To him virtue was "the idea of inner freedom 
which has developed into an abiding actuahty in an individual." 
That is, it is an evolutionary product in each individual, result- 
ing from a cumulative series of experiences, because each re- 
lation entered into calls forth an independent judgment of 
approval or disapproval. To develop this attitude of pref- 
erence for that which constitutes "inner freedom" or moral 
character into an "abiding actuahty in the individual" is the 
chief aim of education. The process of doing this constitutes 



Psychological Tendency in Education 323 

the "aesthetic presentation of the universe," through "expe- 
rience, human converse and in^j;ruction." 

Herbart's analysis of virtue 'was not left in formal terms, but The five 
was reduced to five moral relationships or ideas. The funda- virtue" 
mental one was that of inner freedom — the harmony between 
the vohtion or desire on the one hand and insight and conviction 
on the other. To this were added efficiency, or perfection (the ^^^-^'" 
balance or harmony of the Greeks); benevolence, or good will; 
justice; and ec|uity. 

The nature of the aim of education having been determined, The work of 
there arises a second point in Herbart's theory concerning |s(^j'7to'°" 
the nature of education. The concrete work of education is furnish the 
(i) to furnish the mind with presentations or experiences, and ^^^^^ ^ 
(2) upon the basis of these presentations to "complete the presenta- 
circle of thought" through ideas and motivation to action. As toTeadto 
previously noted, presentations furnish the elements out of thejr appii- 
which the mind is composed; thus far Pestalozzi went. But action 
it is the second point taken in connection with the first that is 
significant in Herbart's doctrine. Morality depends upon good 
will and knowledge; these in turn upon the general enlighten- 
ment of the whole man, in other words upon the ideas developed 
from the interaction of primary presentations. There is no in- 
dependent function of wiUing in the individual. Action is the 
result of motivation, or desire springing from these presenta- 
tions, influenced by good-will springing from the same source. 
Hence the importance of the instruction given by the teacher. 

The third point in Herbart's theory follows; namely, this "Educative 
formation of character, which is dependent upon the shaping -"^that^ich 
I of the wiITTis deterinined hy edticaHve instnict'ian._^ This follows thusinflu- 
f rom two subordinate principles : (i ) that these presentations \^^ 
which constitute the content of the mind are modifiable (through 
the apperceptive process), and (2) that these presentations deter- 
mine conduct. Conduct and character, then, depend primarily 
upon the sort of presentations acquired by the mind, and upon 
the manner in which they are acquired or given. The worth of 



324 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Capacity for 
this true 
education 
does not 
depend upon 
inherent 
capacities 
but upon 
proper rela- 
tionship of 
ideas 



Instruction 
can be made 
educative 
through 
interest 



moral as well as mental instruction depends upon following the 
proper psychological procedure in the building up of the more 
complex presentations. In other words, it is the business of 
the teacher to determine the kind and the relation of the pres- 
entations that constitute the content of the child's mind; by 
so doing he shapes the child's conduct, and thus his character. 
If these primary presentations have been fully acquired; if the 
proper and harmonious relations have been established between 
them; if from the presentations derived from social intercourse 
the appropriate sympathy or good -will has also been developed, 
then the good moral character is the outcome. In the process 
of rejecting that which is erroneous and evil the pupil finds or 
develops his true self, his character; it is "a making which the 
pupil himself discovers when choosing the good and rejecting 
the bad." The extent to which the teacher is competent to 
produce such results is thus stated: "The capacity for educa- 
tion, therefore, is determined not by the relationship in which 
various originally distinct mental faculties stand to one an- 
other, but by the relations of ideas already acquired to one 
another and to the physical organism." Instruction in the tradi- 
tional sense, and even in the Pestalozzian sense, is insufficient. 

"Instruction in the sense of mere information contains no guarantee 
whatever that it will materially counteract faults and influence existing 
groups of ideas that are independent of the imparted information. But 
it is these ideas that education must reach; for the kind and extent of 
assistance that instruction may render to conduct depend upon the hold 
it has upon them." 

Such instruction, then, that modifies the groups of ideas 
already possessed by the mind and causes them to form a new 
unity or harmonious series of unities, and that thus determine 
conduct, is alone educative. A volition is but an idea that has 
passed through complete development, in which the circle of 
thought, beginning with interest and ending with action, has 
been completed. This educative instruction that reaches and 
forms the will or determines volitions, and thus shapes char- 



Psychological Tendency in Education 325 



acter, is the proper work of the school. The immediate means 
to this educative instruction is by arousing in the child's mind 
a "many-sided interest." 

Herbartian Means and Method. How Instruction can he 
made Educative. — The presentation of the doctrine of interest, 
which here must be given in a few words, constitutes the bulk 
of Herbartian literature, both of Herbart's systematic works, 
including the Science of Education and the Outlines 0} Educa- 
tional Doctrine, and of those of his expositors and followers. 

"The ultimate purpose of instruction is contained in the notion, virtue. 
But in order to reahze the final aim another and nearer one must be set 
up. We may term it many-sidedness of interest. The word interest stands 
in general for that kind of mental activity which it is the business of instruc- 
tion to incite. Mere information does not suffice; for this we think of as 
supply or store of facts, which a person might possess or lack and still 
remain the same being. But he who lays hold of this information and 
reaches out for more takes an interest in it. Since, however, this mental 
activity is varied, we need to add the further determination supplied by the 
term many-sided." 

Since volitions are the results of ideas, it becomes of utmost 
importance that the pupils should conceive a genuine interest 
in the subjects of study. Only thus do these ideas enter into 
organic relationship with the presentations already in the mind. 
To affect character permanently, these interests must be made 
abiding. The arousing of interest is not merely a means for 
securing attention in the lesson. It is the means for securing 
the complete appropriation of new ideas or presentalions through 
their apperception, so that they enter into the constitution of 
new unities in the child's mind and thus form a new and more 
elaborate and secure basis for conduct. Such interest in the 
activity remains after the learning or apperceiving process is 
complete; by making it many-sided and proportionate, a har- 
monious and broad character is produced. It__is .the_work_of_ 
the teacher to blend the individuality of the^girpil into_majiy- 
sidedness^ by the ^development of these many interests and 
activities through instruction. The more thoroughly this is 



Definition of 
interest from 
Outlines of 
Educational 
Doctrine, 
Pt. 2, Sec. 2, 
Chap. 2 



Relation of 
interest to 
instruction 



326 Brief Course in the History of Education 

done, "the more easily will character assert its sway over the 
individual." 

In order to accomplish this, the teacher must have a care for 
two things : first, for the selection of materials of instruction 
that will furnish the proper presentations both of experience 
and intercourse; and second, for a method of instruction that 
will harmonize v/ith the psychological development of the child, 
and that will produce many-sidedness of interest as an inevi- 
table result. 

Correlation 0} Studies. — The first of these essentials gives 
rise to the idea of the correlatio n or unification ol^tudies. Her- 
bart himself believed that the Homeric poems furnished the 
best materials for the education ol boys. For here, he held, 
in the youth of the race w^ere to be found the same activities 
and interests that were natural to the youth of the individual. 
This material was to be followed by other portions of the Greek 
and Latin^literatures,.. combined with the study of certain periods 
in history, all selected upon the basis of the progressive com- 
plexity of the child's interests and consecjuently of the objective 
materials. 

This idea, expanded, was given a fuller application to educa- 
tion in the form of the culture epoch theory by some of Her- 
bart's expositors, notably by Ziller. The idea in brief is that 
the stages of culture inthe development j)fjhej;aceare paralleled 
by the stagcs'of mental developmenj^j)fjthe_Jndmdual. Con- 
sequently, in order to follow the proper order in the psychological 
development of the child, the materials of instruction should be 
selected and arranged according to the stages in the cultural 
development of the race. The culture epoch theory, however, 
is only incidental to the idea of correlation of studies, being but 
one means for determination, not only of the order of arrange- 
ment of materials, but of their selection as well. As a scientific 
hypothesis it was never demonstrated and is now considered 
to have little validity; as an educational theory, it possesses 
some suggestive value. 



Psychological Tendency in Edtccatioji 327 

The idea of correlation ilsclf demands only that the materials The theory of 
of instruction, even if classilied into the various school subjects, ^^''^'^l^.tion. 
should nevertheless be so organized that they preserve the unity 
which is essential to the development of a unified consciousness 
in the individual. In otlier words, the material should be so 
unified that it shall be wholly apperceived by the child as it is 
presented; and thus that it sliQuld strengthen and not, through 
its lack of connectedness and its dissimilarity, disorganize or 
make disproportionate this many-sidedness of interests, and 
consequently weaken the character of the child. 

Herbart and his immediate followers prepared a scheme of The concen- 



concentration of studies, or of the unification of all school in- , !°'^ , 

' _ _ studies, and 

struction upon one central core study, either literature or litera- the coordina- 
ture combined with history. Some groups of his followers, g^^'^^g 
notably some in this country, have elaborated schemes of co- 
ordination of studies. Coordination does not seek to find one 
central core study, but accepts a given number. In the scheme 
of Dr. W. T. Harris, five subjects are selected for logical and 
psychological reasons, as of equal value. These are to be 
organized so that the material is arranged in a psychological 
order and that the unities between the subjects are made evi- 
dent and preserved. Various forms of concentration, based 
either on the literary and historical studies, or on nature studies, 
or, where combined with the Froebelian influence, on social 
activities direct, are frequently employed in the lower grades. 
In the higher grades few attempts, save at the coordination of 
studies, have been tried. 

General Method. — Since the early sense-realists a general The first 
method had been sought. Herbart was the first to work this ^^^^ on 
idea out in detail so that it becomes a method for the immediate scientific 
process of instruction by the teacher. This method consists ^'^ 
in a given series of steps, determined not by the character of the 
material, but by the way in which the human mind acts and 
human consciousness expands. These steps are to be followed 
in every unit of instruction, which presumably is the recitation, 



328 Brief Course in the History of Education 

though particular units may be determined rather by the sub- 
ject-matter than by time limits. There is no particular virtue 
in these steps themselves, nor is the goal that Herbart aims at 
to be attained by the mere formal apphcation of these steps to 
a recitation. This method is a mere form to aid in the realiza- 
tion of the great end of instruction. Of this external form, a 
successful teacher may be in entire ignorance; and even the 
teacher familiar with it should most often be unconscious of its 
use. 

The immediate function of instruction is to furnish the mind 
with ideas, to establish their proper relationships, to connect 
them or color them with good- will or sympathy that will lead 
to moral action. The concept interest, which indicates the 
activities through which the mind expands into the many- 
sidedness of character, can be differentiated into certain 
steps; namely, observation, expectation, demand, action. 

Corresponding with these stages are the formal steps of 
instruction, — clearness, association, system, method, — which 
may be taken as the basal psychological principle of the recita- 
tion. By clearness is meant the apprehension of a single object 
— practically the observation of Pestalozzi. Ziller, who elabo- 
rated this plan of Herbart's pedagogy in its application to 
elementary education, divided this step into two : preparation, — 
the calling to mind of such older ideas as have intimate connec- 
tion with the new to be imparted, and their arrangement in 
such an order as will explain the meaning of the new and tend 
to make lasting the impression which it makes; and the actual 

presentation, proccss of presentation so that the new will be wholly appro- 
priated. Here the concrete materials are finally brought to- 
gether so that a general idea is found. The third step is that 

association, of associatiou, — the actual combination of the new with the 
old. This is the elementary stage in the apperceptive process, 
and this preliminary fusion is largely the work of the imagina- 

system, tion. The fourth step is system, — the complete separation 

of the general notion from its concrete embodiment in particu- 



Psychological Tendency in Education 329 



lars. The general concept is now to be related in a systematic 
way with previously acquired knowledge, so as to make an 
organic whole. This is the work of reflection and requires both 
repetition and definite form of expression in language. The 
fifth step is method or application. This is the progressive 
reflection of the pupil as he realizes the general concept gained 
through activities : the child must make application of his stock 
of ideas, as rapidly as they are gained, so far as is possible in 
the hmited activities of a child's hfe. In this way the child's 
ideas develop and are fused into a harmonious and organic 
mental life, out of which grows, through suggestion and direc- 
tion, his active life. 

Herbartian influence reveals itself in a strong emphasis upon 
the importance of instruction and consequently upon the tech- 
nique of the schoolroom, especially of the recitation, rather than 
on the general spirit as was the case with Pestalozzianism. He 
has truly summarized his system and thus indicated this influ- 
ence: "Instruction will form the circle of thought, and educa- 
tion the character. The last is nothing without the first. Herein 
is contained the whole sum of my pedagogy." 

THE FROEBELIAN MOVEMENT. General Characteris- 
tics. — In contrast with these fundamental characteristics of 
the Herbartian movement, the Froebelian movement is charac- 
terized by an emphasis upon the importance of the child, upon 
his interests, experiences and activities as the starting point and 
means of instruction, and by an improvement in the spirit, 
purpose, "atmosphere" and morale of the schoolroom. One 
exalts the function of the teacher; the other exalts the impor- 
tance of the child. Herbart laid the emphasis upon instruc- 
tion as a means for forming moral character; Froebel upon 
the stimulated and guided activities of the child. To Froe- 
bel, education, beginning with the spontaneous activity of 
the child and leading from that to ideas and permanently 
formed volitional interests, was more largely an emotional and 
volitional than an intellectual training. The volitional, not as 



application 



Herbartian 
influence on 
technique of 
instruction 



Contrast 
with the 
Herbartian 
ideas 



Emphasis on 
the child 



330 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Universality 
of Froebel's 
principles 



Present 
application 
of some of 
his theories 



Instruction 
to begin with 
immediate 
social or 
natural 
environment 
of the child 

I 

\ Instruction 

' to lead to 

some social 

activity 



His work as 
a scientist 



with Herbart the intellectual, character of the human mind was 
asserted to be fundamental. 

Froebel made the practical application of these new ideas 
I to only one stage of education, the kindergarten. But the 
principles themselves, as formulated in his more philosophical 
works, are fundamental to all stages of education. The attempt 
to make this application to higher stages in the present and in 
the future is after all the true Froebelian movement. Some of 
the most profound changes in educational thought and practice 
of present times are in accord with these demands formulated 
by Froebel. Among these, two most fundamental ones may be 
taken as illustrative. One principle is that if the materials of 
instruction are to produce a real development of the child's 
mind and nature, they must be selected from life as it now is 
and as it affects the child and comes within his experience. 
A second one is that if education is to produce the results desired, 
both individual and social, the effects of school instruction must 
relate directly to life as it now is, through the activities of the 
child that form the culmination of the process of instruction. 
These two principles are receiving general acceptance among 
the leaders in education in the present and underlie the profound 
changes that are taking place in the subject-matter, organiza- 
tion and method of school work. 

Life and Works of Froebel (1782-1852). — Froebel's early 
education was fragmentary and without definite purpose. It 
was unsatisfactory, as he later said, because there was no 
unity whatever between the subjects taught and no connection 
between the subjects of instruction and life. His youth 
was divided between university work and practical scientific 
work. He was in turn an apprentice to a forester, an ac- 
countant on large estates, a surveyor, and later a museum 
assistant in geological sciences. Out of all this experience came 
two fundamental results, — a profound love for nature and a 
conviction that throughout nature one found revealed that unity 
of idea and realization that was preached in the philosophy 



Psychological Tende^icy in Education 331 

of the university but nowhere found in educational work. 
At twenty-three he was persuaded to become a teacher in the His early 
Pestalozzian Institute at Frankfort, and thus discovered his experience 
life calling. After two years here he became private tutor to 
three boys whom he took to Pestalozzi's Institute at Yverdun, 
where he remained for two years more. From this experience 
came a devotion to educational reform, for which he now further 
prepared himself by completing his university course. 

In 181 6 he began his work of educational reform, inspired to Educational 
this by his previous experiences. In a peasant's cottage, with '^^°™ 
five httle children, he opened his "Universal German Educa- 
tional Institute." The work was far more substantial than the 
similar work of Pestalozzi, because supported by far wider 
philosophical knowledge and by greater practical ability among 
the assistants. Its scope was far wider and was directed largely 
toward secondary studies. It was not until 1826, after the ap- 
pearance of his most general treatise, The Education 0} Man, TiwEduca- 
that Froebel turned his attention especiallv to the educational ?/"^V( ^^ 

^ ■' Man {1826) 

possibilities of the earliest years of childhood. Froebel had 
ever been a close student of children, and had even then made 
further progress in the use of play and the spontaneous activities 
of children than had ever been done previously. 

During some eight or ten years of unsuccessful practical 
attempts, — one of them at Burgdorf, where Pestalozzi had 
made educational experimentation famous, — Froebel crys- 
tallized his ideas concerning the education of the earliest years. 
In 1837, in the little village of Blankenburg, near Keilhau, he 
put into operation the first of these new institutions, to which 
two years later he gave the name of kindergarten. To this new The kinder- 
educational propaganda, Froebel devoted the remainder of ga^en. 
his life; for here in this virgin field the new educational ideas 
were more clearly expressed and more readily realized. During 
the period immediately following the establishment of the first 
kindergarten, the greater part of the Froebelian literature was 
produced. This literature was chiefly devoted to the practical 



/ 



332 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Connection 

with the 

ideahstic 

philosophy 

of early 

nineteenth 

century 



The absolute 
as self-con- 
scious spirit 



elaboration of these new kindergarten ideas and to a populariz- 
ing of the institution itself. 

The Law of Unity, or Inner-connectedness, as the Basis of 
Education. — Froebel starts from the dominant idealistic 
philosophy of Kant, Schelling, Hegel and Fichte, against which 
Herbart continually protests. The fundamental tenet of this 
entire philosophical movement was to find the explanation of 
reality and of life, in the fundamental unity of existence of 
nature and of man in the absolute spirit. The absolute is 
no longer matter, it is self-conscious spirit. In this self- 
conscious spirit is found the explanation of the origin and 
the meaning of existence — both of man and of nature. 
To Froebel this spiritual reality was the source of all ex- 
istence. The purpose of education was to expand the life 
of the individual until it should comprehend this existence 
through participation in this all-pervading spiritual activ- 
ity. This inner-connectedness furnished the explanation of 
all reahty; the realization of it in the life of the individ- 
ual constitutes the aim of education. The opening paragraph 
of The Education of Man contains the whole theory in 
essence. 



Idea of 
"unity" 
the keynote 
in his theory. 
Quotation 
from The 
Education of 
Man 

The reign of 
law explains 
the unity of 
life 



"In all things there lives and reigns an eternal law. To him whose 
mind, through disposition and faith, is filled, penetrated, and quickened 
with the necessity that this cannot be otherwise, as well as to him whose 
clear, calm, mental vision beholds the inner in the outer and through the 
outer, and sees the outer proceeding with logical necessity from the essence 
of the inner, this law has been and is announced with equal clearness and 
distinctness in nature (the external), in the spirit (the internal), and in life 
which unites the two. This all-pervading law is necessarily based on an 
all-pervading, energetic, living, self-conscious, and hence eternal Unity. 
This fact, as well as the Unity itself, is again vividly recognized, either 
through faith or through insight, with equal clearness and comprehensive- 
ness; therefore, a quietly observant human mind, a thoughtful, clear human 
intellect, has never failed, and will never fail, to recognize this Unity. 
This Unity is God. All things have come from the Divine Unity, from God, 
and have their origin in the Divine Unity, in God alone. God is the sole 
source of all things. In all things there lives and reigns the Divine Unity, 



Psychological Te^tdency hi Education 333 

God. All things live and have their being in and through the Divine 
Unity, in and through God. All things are only through the divine efflu- 
ence that lives in them. The divine effluence that lives in each thing is 
the essence of each thing." 

The intense religious feeling that pervades all of Froebel's Religious 
writings thus finds its explanation. It is not something extra- bought* 
neous — tacked on as it were. It is the very breath of life of his 
system. Every being or reality participates in this essence and 
to that extent is capable of revealing it or, if conscious existence, 
is capable of attaining to it. Hence every object of nature can 
reveal God. The object of education is the realization of this 
destiny, the development of this essence into unity with the 
absolute. 

This law of unity had certain fundamental practical Practical 
relations to education with Froebel. From his belief in the '^^^.nng of 

the principles 

reality of this unity Froebel drew his behef that nature revealed on the 

God to the child; hence there proceeded both his emphasis schooi^o"^ 
upon the use of natural phenomena and nature study with the 

child and his symbolic presentation of this material. He saw (i) Value of 

the unity in organic Hfe, and thus became one of the earlier ["^^^^of gy^fiu! 

advocates of the theory of organic evolution; from this he was tionary study 

led to place an altogether new emphasis upon the study of nature, science's^^'^ 

of botany, zoology, etc., by the child. He believed that the same (3) of scien- 

unity was to be found in the inorganic world and that it became l^^ sy^mboiic 

a symbol to the child of all the higher unity of thought and life, use of inor- 

Consequently from this conception he derived his ideas of the nomena-^" 
use of the " gifts " in the kindergarten. In that which he drew 
from his own feeling of the universal as expressed in inorganic 
forms, — as in crystals, — there is much that is fanciful; the 

more so when the fundamental philosophical thought is not at (4) the school 

all understood. Between the individual and the race, which j^e^"soc^ety- 

form in reality but one great organic life which the school should this a 

epitomize, is to be found a higher unity. The school thus be- ^cM^d"- 

comes an association for the child wherein he discovers in a veiopment; 
simplified and idealized form all the relations of society. The 



334 Brief Course in the History of Education 

true function of the school as a means of social progress as well 
as the instrument of individual development is thus revealed. 
In the life of the individual there is the same unity; that between 
the stages of infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, which is so 
set at naught by the school in its failure to comprehend this 
unity that education itself becomes but a form. Even more 
thoroughly than did Herbart, Froebel recognized the unity and 
the organic connection between the various subjects of study 
as a basis for a necessary reorganization of the school curricu- 
lum. Hence the theory of correlation of studies has received 
support among Froebelians, though with no adherence to 
particular schemes, as among Herbartians. In a similar way, 
this law of inner-connectedness gave to Froebel his conception 
of mental growth and led to an emphasis upon the unity of the 
knowing, feeling and willing activities. This view is much 
nearer the modern scientific theories of the nature of the mind's 
growth and activities than is the Herbartian psychology. 

At every point Froebel found a unity between thoug'it and 
life, which is to be developed by education. Education becomes 
the continuous progressive adjustment of the individual to the 
larger life, which is his by destiny and in which he must find his 
true self. 

Development as the Process of Education. — The philosophi- 
cal idea of unity demands as its accompaniment the idea of con- 
tinuity of generation of all things. The individuaHsm of the 
period of Rousseau gives way to the idea of organic unity and 
development. The scientific expression of this dominant idea 
is given in the theory of organic evolution. This idea Froebel 
seized and, first of all, apphed to education. It is this that is 
found in his theoretical statements concerning the nature and 
process of education, and gives deeper meaning to the use of the 
gi]ts and the concrete activities of the schoolroom. The primary 
principle in both is that each following activity includes each 
preceding and earlier one. Evolution is the tendency of this unity 
to work itself out into the manifold expressions of spirit and of 



Psychological Tendency in Education 335 

the accompanying phenomenal expressions. Thus education is Education 
but a phase of the general process of evolution; it is a develop- phase^of the 
ment by which the individual comes into realization of the life unified 
of the all-encompassing unity of which he is but a unit; a gro^hor 
development by which his life broadens until it has related itself development 
to nature, until it enters sympathetically into all the activities of 
society, until it participates in the achievements of the race and 
the aspirations of humanity. 

The essential idea of the Education 0} Man Froebel states as Education is 
follows: "God neither ingrafts nor inoculates. He develops phase of the 
the most trivial and imperfect things in continuously ascending process of 
series, and in accordance with eternal, self-grounded and self- 
developing laws." Education is but the realization of the 
evolutionary process in its highest stage as revealed in the 
individual human being. Thus Froebel, first of all, states 
the view of education which is yet to prevail. 

Self -activity as the Method of the Process. — In emphasizing importance 
the principles of self-activity as the method by which this 
development proceeds Froebel again indicated that he partici- 
pated in the dominant thought-life of the early nineteenth evolution 
century. He was moreover the first to make application of these 
ideas, common to philosophy and to science, to the problems 
of education. In the department of scientific thought the old 
idea of the hard-and-fast classification of forms of life had given 
place to a more general belief in the idea of development of 
lower forms into higher and of the connectedness of all forms 
of life. In this respect the general introduction of the term 
biology to indicate a general science of living forms is sig- 
nificant. At this time (i 802-1 809) Lamarck had advanced his 
theory that the higher forms of life developed from the lower, 
through the use and disuse of organs. This was but a special 
application of the principle of self-activity. Previously, evolu- 
tion had been explained by such scientists or philosophers as 
believed in it by the varying influences of external conditions, 
such as climate. With Lamarck, the organism itself became the 



of the idea of 



336 Brief Course in the History of Education 

chief factor. As the use of the arm or of any particular muscle 
of the body will produce a corresponding development, so the 
effort of an organism to use any organ in a particular direction 
will produce a corresponding development; and conversely, 
its disuse will cause a proportionate atrophy. 

The prevailing philosophy of the times, especially as Froebel 
accepted it, held that there is a fundamental unity in all things, 
a permanent principle in all changes and forms of life. There 
is a single formative energy which reveals itself in nature, that 
is in external hfe, as force, and in consciousness of the inner 
life, as mind. This energy, as intelligence in the individual, 
builds up for itself its own world. The self — the mind — is 
not so much possessed of activity as it is activity. Through 
this activity it realizes itself, builds up its own world, becomes 
conscious of itself, and works out its own destiny. This is true 
both in the intellectual and moral application. 

In his early educational work, Froebel realized the signifi- 
cance of this principle when applied to educational method. 
At Keilhau in 1825 a hostile government inspector had been 
compelled to comment as follows : — 

"Self-activity of the mind is the first law of this instruction; therefore 
the kind of instruction given here does not make the young mind a strong 
box, into which, as early as possible, all kinds of coins of the most different 
values and coinage, such as are now current in the world, are stuffed; 
but slowly, continuously, gradually, and always inwardly, that is, according 
to a connection found in the nature of the human mind, the instruction 
steadily goes on, without any tricks, from the simple to the complex, from 
the concrete to the abstract, so well adapted to the child and his needs that 
he goes as readily to his learning as to his play." 

A few words further will indicate somewhat more clearly 
oVse^if^™^^^^ the educational significance of self -activity as the principle of 
realization method. Frocbcl emphasizes at every point that self-activity 
is the process by which the individual realizes its own nature, 
by which it builds up its own world or representation of the 
external, and by which it unites and harmonizes the two. 



Psychological Tendency in Education 337 

Thus the hfe of the individual is the process: (i) by which he 
knows nature, or the objective world ; (2) by which he comes to 
know his own nature; and (3) by which he becomes a part of 
the life of both nature and humanity. In all of this the individual 
has determined his own activities and is free. So far as he 
works under compulsion of external force he fails to realize 
this unity. 

Self-activity is activity determined by one's own motives, The nature 
arisino; out of one's own interests, and sustained by one's own °^ ^f^' 

° •' activity 

power. It alone can produce this evolution of mind, it alone 
can secure that which is held to be the aim of education. Such 
activity is in a way compelled, since it is in response to the 
inherent nature of being and of the individual ; but as the in- 
dividual responds only in obedience to the force felt within 
his own nature, and not to one from without, such activity is 
free — it is 5^//-activity. Because such activities are free, and 
at the same time take place according to law, — the laws of 
one's own nature, — it is possible to formulate them and to 
accept them as a guide to all educational work. Thus it follows 
that all processes of instruction must start from or originate with instruction 
this volitional ihterest of the child. Beginning with his spon- J""^*^ '^^ 

... . -IT based upon 

taneous activities, action may be sustained and may be stimu- the interest 

lated toward certain ends that have far more permanent value ^['1^'^u^i^ 
than such activities undirected or uninfluenced. 

Not only does the tendency inherent in the child's nature Forms of 

relate to conduct and action, but the child reveals the same ^eif-activity 

to be used in 

spontaneous effort to indicate its conception of things, to reveal the school 
the processes of its own mind. It attempts through this revela- 
tion to bring about a harmony between the world of thought and 
the world of external reality. Such spontaneous efforts con- 
stitute self-activity, and give to the teacher the opportunity 
for instruction; that is, for creating a fuller harmony between 
the inner and the outer, between thought and the external world, 
than the child unaided would be able to do. Thus for the 
school, self-activity means this desire of the child to enter into 



33^ Brief Course in the History of Education 



Aim of edu- 
cation not 
found in 
some future 
state, but in 
the imme- 
diate de- 
velopment 
of the child 



Power of 
doing de- 
veloped 
along with 
the process 
of acquisi- 
tion 



Froebel's 
conception of 
the school 



The school as 
an epitome 
of society 



the life of others and the hfe around it; the desire to help, to 
find out, to discover, to participate in common activities, to 
create, to discover the identity or connection between itself and 
the activities and processes of others — the discovery which 
constitutes knowledge. 

Education is not a preparation for a future state. This life 
which the child seeks to enter is not the adult life, but the life 
around him. Education finds its meaning in the process, not 
in some condition remote and only real through the imagination. 
The aim of education is development, the process of education 
is development. In so far as the child enters to the full extent 
of his powers and his nature into unity with the life around him, 
the development of the present is secured. The development 
of the future is measured by the same standard. The aim of 
education is thus realized as fully in the child as in the adult. 
By basing education upon the activity of the child and gaug- 
ing education by the child's self-activity, power of execution 
is developed to the same degree and in the same connection as 
the other acquisitions. There is no hiatus between knowledge 
and action; no conflict between theory and practice; no dis- 
crepancy between profession and deeds. 

Influence of Froebel on Educational Practice. — The school, 
to Froebel, was a place where the child should learn the impor- 
tant things of life, the essentials of truth, justice, free personahty, 
responsibility, initiative, causal relationship, and the like; 
not by studying about them, but by hving them out. Accord- 
ing to the fundamental idea of unity, the school was to be an 
institution in which each child should discover his own indi- 
viduality, work out his own personality and develop his power 
of initiative and of execution. He was to do this through 
cooperation with others in similar endeavors, in work where 
interest was shared by all, responsibility borne by all and 
rewards enjoyed by all. Mutual helpfulness was a constant 
motive. The school, as the world, was to become a unified 
organism in which the units of developing individuality were to 



Psychological Tendency hi Education 339 

find their perfection through participation in the life of the 
world. Thus the school becomes a miniature society. Edu- 
cation becomes a phase of life, not as a preparation but as an 
epitome. 

Instruction is no longer s}Tionymous with education, nor even instruction 
with school work. It becomes the middle term of a process notsynony- 

, . , - 1 1 M 11 ... , . mouswith 

which Starts from the child s spontaneous activities and native education 
interests and terminates in some creative use or tangible ex- 
pression of the knowledge imparted by instruction. Upon the 
native tendency is thus grafted a habit or custom, a mode of 
activity and of thought, which is approved as a desired educa- 
tional end. Thus education seeks neither to eliminate nature, 
nor to leave it severely alone, but to help nature, — to guide it 
to ends higher than those it would reach unaided. 

Flay. — As the most characteristic spontaneous activity of piay an im- 
the child, play becomes the basis of the educational process in poi^^-^t form 

1 1 -r. 1 • 1- 1 r , . . ofseK-activ- 

the early years. Resulting most directly from the native inter- ity to be 
ests of the child, play furnishes the best natural stock upon ^f ^ '" 

^ -^ ^ education 

which to graft the habits of action, feeling and thought approved 
by the educator. It is through play that the child first repre- 
sents the world to himself. Consequently it is through play that 
the educator can give to the child the interpretation of life which 
he seeks to impart. Through it he can best introduce him into 
the world of actual social relations, give him the sense of inde- 
pendence and of mutual helpfulness, provide him with initia- 
tive and motivation and develop him as the individual constitut- 
ing a unit in the social whole. Froebel did not stop with the 
theoretical demonstration of the educational value of play; he 
realized his ideas in the practical procedure of the kindergarten. 

Educational Value of Handwork. — Analogous to the use Manual 
of play is that of all forms of constructive work. As a motive ^c^i^'^ies as 

'■ ■' a form of 

representing the same spontaneity as play, as an activity repre- self-activity 
senting the concrete constructive process of making real an ^^u'at^^n'^ ^" 
idea or a process of instruction, constructive work might form 
both the beginning and the end of the educational process. 



340 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Comparison 
with ideas 
of construc- 
tive work in 
education 



Educational 
value of 
constructive 
work 



Educational 
value of 
nature study 



Industrial training had been recognized as a phase of education 
by Rousseau, but upon social and economic grounds. Pesta- 
lozzi introduced object study and manual activities largely 
from the receptive point of view, that of imparting knowledge, 
or at best that of developing the sense-perceptions. Fellenberg 
made these more practically effective than had hitherto been 
done. Yet he hardly seized more than the social and economic 
import. On distinctly educational grounds, Froebel gave to 
all manual and industrial training and to all forms of construc- 
tive work the place which they are coming to occupy in modern 
schooling. Through them the child was to develop power, 
since each activity was to the child but an expression of some 
idea or purpose gained through instruction. The use of any 
object or material or bit of information introduced into the 
school is to find out what the child can do with it. Thus, in a 
broader sense than with Herbart, all culminates in application; 
in a broader sense than with Pestalozzi, all school work is 
constructive. 

The great significance of constructive work, however, is 
found in the principle that education is but the development 
of the power to give outward manifestation and expression of 
the inner self. Creation with the hand is not the highest ex- 
pression of this. But the development of the ability to give 
such material manifestations of ideas forms a basis of the 
higher power of expressing the intellectual, moral and spiritual 
life in action. When crystallized into habits, character is 
produced. 

Nature Study in the Schools. — Here again Pestalozzianism 
and Froebelianism, as well as other minor streams of educational 
thought, converge. What has come to pass in the actual study 
of nature in the schools is a resultant of them all. But with 
Froebel the basal principles underlying this study are quite 
different from those held by others. Least important of all, 
with him, was the simple knowledge of the facts of nature; 
most important of all was the moral improvement, the religious 



Psychological Tendency in Education 341 

uplift, the spiritual insight, which the child got from association A source of 
with nature. As a source of natural interests and as affording [^jg^ests 
opportunity for varied activity, nature study retains a place in 
elementary instruction as influenced by Froebel, altogether 
aside from either the value of the facts taught or of the sym- 
bolical spiritual import. As suggesting material for reading, 
writing, language work, constructive work, number work, 
nature study has come to play an important function in the 
school. Even when all of these ideas concerning the function The func- 
of nature study are rejected, Froebel has influenced fundamen- j°"^^°^ 
tally the conception of this study as it is conducted in all gi'ades. conception of 
For it is no longer nature analyzed and dissected according ^ ^ ^ y 
to the old formal classificatory science, but it is nature as life 

— the plant as developing, the animal as acting, the organ as 
functioning — that is studied. While the s}Tnbolism is antago- 
nistic to the modern scientific attitude, yet in the conception of 
nature, and of the value of science, and the use made of it in 
the school, it is quite in harmony with the modern scientific 
view. 

The Kindergarten. — The fundamental thought of the kinder- These ad- 
garten is to aid the child to express himself and thus produce o^proebef^ 
development. To accomplish this he must start from his native first made 
interests and tendencies to action. The work of the school the'kfnde" 
must be based wholly upon "self-activity" and must culminate garten 
in the expression or use of the ideas or knowledge acquired in 
the process of the activity. The primary aim is not acquisition 
of Itnowledge, but growth or development, in which knowledge 
functions merely as a means to an end. Knowledge is, as it 
were, a subordinate or by-product; yet always essential, if 
growth is to be secured. Both the acquisitive and assimilative 
processes — exalted into ends in all previous school procedures 

— are here wholly subordinated. Both appear in every com- 
pleted educational process as stages preliminary to, or inci- 
dental to, the expression or constructive process. 

The forms of expression of the child's feelings and ideas which 



342 Brief Course in the History of Educatio7z 



Froebel seized upon as of importance in this training were 
(i) gesture, (2) song, (3) language. So far as possible these 
means were to be coordinate. The story, for example, when 
told by the teacher, was to be expressed by the child, not only 
in his own language, but through song, or gesture, or pictures, 
or construction of simple articles from paper, clay or other 
convenient material. In this way ideas would be given, thought 
stimulated, the imagination vivified, the hands and eyes trained, 
the muscles coordinated, the moral nature strengthened through 
the effort to put into concrete objective form the higher motives 
and sentiments aroused. The chief materials of the kinder- 
garten, aside from the songs, the Mutter und Kose-lieder, 
Froebel organized into a series of "gifts and occupations." 
These are introduced gradually and in order. As the child 
becomes familiar with the properties of the one gift or the 
activities called forth by the occupation, he is led on to the 
next, which grows out of the preceding, each introducing new 
impressions and repeating old ones. The distinction between 
the gifts and occupations, though commonly made, is an arbi- 
trary one. Froebel himself called all the activities occupations, 
and the materials for them, gifts. But the distinction seems to 
bring out a most prominent tendency in the development of the 
Froebelian principles; namely, that a much greater stress has 
come to be placed upon the occupations than upon the gifts. 
While Froebel rendered the greatest service to education in thus 
transforming his principles into concrete schoolroom procedures, 
yet it is evident that many of these, including the songs, were 
appropriate only to his age and to the people with whom he 
was familiar. To keep his principles effective, modification 
may be necessary in the present and future. 

EFFECTS OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL MOVEMENTS ON 
SCHOOLS. The Pestalozzian Influence. — Both at Burgdorf 
and Yverdun, Pestalozzi's institute was frequented by numerous 
investigators, public men interested in education, students, even 
groups of students, from various countries of Europe, The 



PsycJwlogical Tendency in Education 343 

institute had been made a normal school, subsidized by the Swiss 
government. Later, Pestalozzian institutes were founded in 
Madrid, Naples and St. Petersburg. The monarchs of Russia, 
Prussia, Austria, and of the Italian states were personally inter- 
ested in the reforms; and, as Pestalozzi said, any hedge school- 
master, in order to succeed, had but to proclaim the use of 
Pestalozzian methods. 

Nevertheless the popular introduction of the new ideas was Checked by 
very slow. This was due partly to the reactionary political ^tactk^n of 
policies then dominant in most European countries. The new early nine- 
educational ideas, outgrowths as they were of the teachings of ^^^ 
Rousseau, were ever associated with revolutionary propaganda. 
Outside of the German states little progress was made until 
after the Revolution of 1830. Then in France, especially 
under Victor Cousin, minister of education, great advance was 
made, especially in the training of teachers. 

Among the German states Wiirtemberg first fell under the Pestalozzian 
new influence. During the first decade of the century Pesta- introduced 
lozzian enthusiasts had been appointed school inspectors and »nto the 
principals of normal schools. Prussia followed. The philoso- schools 
pher Fichte, in his address to the German people after the 
defeat at Jena in 1806, pointed out Pestalozzian education as 
the means of regeneration for the nation. The minister of 
education and the royal family were deeply concerned in the new 
educational movement. Picked young men were sent to Yver- 
dun, and through them and the German assistants of Pestalozzi 
the new ideas were incorporated in the training of the teachers 
for the Prussian elementary schools. 

I Much of the Pestalozzian influence exerted on the United Early 
'States came through England. To this fact is largely due the Pestaiozzian- 

00 o .7 ^ ism in the 

formal and even superficial character of much of American United 
Pestalozzianism, relating as it did to petty methods. How- ^^^"^^^ 
ever, not all of it was of this character, for the movement for the 
training of teachers, as well as the character of this training, were 
outgrowths of the Pestalozzian ideas. From the time of Neef, 



344 Brief Course in the History of ,Education 



The Horace 

Mann 

movement 



The Oswego 
movement 



Pestalozzian 
methods, the 
basis for 
education of 
deaf and 
blind, and 
of juvenile 
offenders 



one of Pestalozzi's assistants, who was induced by a philan- 
thropic American to settle in Philadelphia in 1808, sporadic 
instances of the transplanting of the new ideas occurred. The 
translation (1835) ^f Cousin's Report on the State 0} Public 
Instruction in Prussia, which did so much for the reform of the 
French schools, had great influence upon educational leaders in 
America, From the results of the reform movement, especially 
as he saw it in Germany, Horace Mann drew many of his ideas 
and much of his inspiration. His Seventh Annual Report, 1846, 
■'one of the most influential educational documents ever published 
in America, embodies the results of his personal investigation. 
The most specific source of this influence, however, was what 
is known as the Oswego movement, begun in i860. The ideas 
underlying this movement came indirectly from the Mayos in 
England and centered largely about the use of objects as the 
basis of instruction. The result was a previously unknown 
attention to the technique of instruction and to the details of 
special method. Such was the chief characteristic of normal 
school instruction during the generation following. Hence it 
comes that, for the most part, our schools are yet upon the 
Pestalozzian basis. However, the special methods of applying 
these principles have been much improved. 

One other practical effect of the Pestalozzian method on 
schools deserves at least mention; that is the new basis which 
it gave for the care of social dependents and defectives, es- 
pecially paupers, semi-criminals, deaf mutes and the blind. 
From Pestalozzi's institutions for the poor sprang the agricul- 
tural colonies, especially those for juvenile offenders. The in- 
dustrial occupations furnished a reformatory element hitherto 
wanting in criminal punishment. Guided by the principles of 
his master, one of Pestalozzi's assistants established a school for 
deaf mutes. The method of object teaching introduced hitherto 
unknown possibilities of developing such defective classes, while 
the industrial element gave them the prospect of economic 
independence, which was both a great gain for society and a 



Psychological Tendency in Education 345 

basis for self-respect and self-confidence hitherto denied these 
unfortunates. From these methods have developed modern 
methods of education of these classes. 

The Herbartian Influence being, as we have noted, largely Spread of 
one of principle, is not to be traced with any exactitude. The methods^'^ 
Herbartian propaganda, however, furthered as it had been by through 
groups of educators devoted to the popularization of his thought, feaders°"^ 
is readily described. It is the former which has specific interest 
in the history of education. Here, however, we must be con- 
tent with indicating the extent to which Herbart's thought has 
entered into the educational consciousness of to-day as that 
consciousness is determining, in a practical way, the work of 
our schools. Undoubtedly, in this sense, the Herbartian thought 
has entered very largely into the best work of the ordinary 
school, for the progressive teacher everywhere, however uncon- 
scious he may be of the ultimate origin of those influences, 
shares to some extent in the educational purposes and en- 
deavors of the time. 

' The establishment of pedagogical seminaries and experi- University 
mental or practice schools in connection with the universities instruction 

J. , . 1.11 •" education 

was one ot the more nnportant educational works of Herbart. and practice 
The seminaries at the Universities of Jena, Leipzig, and Halle s^^°ois 
were the more famous of these, and especially developed the 
Herbartian doctrines and applied them to practical work. At 
the former place, first Professor Stoy, later Professor Rein, have 
done most in applying these principles to elementary school 
work through the elaboration of general and special methods. 
It is from this course that the American influence has proceeded. 
From Professor Tuiskon Ziller, at Leipzig, came the more in- 
dependent development of Herbart's original doctrine, especially 
the elaboration of the culture epoch theory and of the theory 
of concentration of studies. Around these and similar Her- Herbartian- 
bartian principles has grown up a very extensive literature, ism in the 
From these two universities have gone out the most wide- schools 
spread influences, through trained teachers and instructors in 



346 Brief Course in the History of Education 



normal schools and universities. Through these combined 
means the German schools have responded to these more 
( advanced ideas, and have, so far as the character of instruction 
is concerned, reached a higher degree of excellence than any 
other schools. 

In the United States the dates of publication of the Her- 
bartian literature (c. 1890-1900) will indicate the recent origin of 
the movement. Though there were many other contributing 
forces, a most important one was the Report 0] the Committee 0] 
Fifteen on Elementary Schools, made to the National Educational 
Association in 1895. ^^^ ^™ ^^ this report was to unify the 
work of the elementary school, to find a basis for that unity in 
a curriculum embodying some form of correlation of studies, 
and to prompt to better methods of instruction. A similar re- 
port five years earlier by a "Committee of Ten" aimed to per- 
form this work of unification for secondary education, and to 
bring about a closer articulation of elementary, secondary and 
higher education. Through such means a very general in- 
fluence is being exerted on the schools of our country toward 
placing the character of instruction on a higher basis than that 
reached through the Pestalozzian movements of some half cen- 
tury ago. 

The Froebelian Influence. — The influence of the Froebelian 
principles is practically coextensive with the most important 
educational tendencies of the present time. The application 
which Froebel himself made of his principles to the kinder- 
garten is being made by others to more advanced phases of 
education. All that can be sketched here is the spread of the 
kindergarten as an institution. 

In Germany a number of institutions similar to that at Keilhau 
were established before Froebel's death. But in 1851, a year 
before that event, kindergartens were prohibited by the Prus- 
isian government on account of their supposed revolutionary 
character. The Baroness Bertha von Marenholtz-Biilow, to 
whom the actual popularization of the kindergarten was largely 



Psychological Tendency in Education 347 

due, transferred her activities, for the time being, to England. 
Though the Prussian prohibition was removed after ten years, 
kindergartens have not yet been incorporated into the Prussian 
school systems. While many private ones exist, they are not 
considered schools: their teachers do not have to comply with 
the standards required of elementary teachers, and, though 
they are under the supervision of school inspectors, they may 
not teach anything which will duplicate the work of the ele- 
mentary schools. Consequently there has been comparatively 
little development of the kindergarten idea. 

France best illustrates the extensive development of schools in France 
for very young children. But these infant schools — the ecoles 
maternelles — are rather a development of the infant school 
movement than of the kindergarten. Only to a slight degree 
do they embody the principles of Froebel. While these schools 
have developed for the most part since the War of 1870, and 
while their establishment is optional with the communes, yet 
in them are trained half a million children of the ages from two 
to six. 

First introduced into England in 1854, and advocated by a in England 
number of prominent men, such as the novelist Dickens, the 
kindergarten was established only in a few instances and then 
as a private institution for the wealthier classes. Not until . 
1874 did the ideas of the kindergarten begin to modify the 
work of the infant schools (see p. 385), which by this time had 
been incorporated as a part of the public school system. It 
was the procedure and methods rather than the principles and 
spirit of the kindergarten that were grafted on to this dominant 
institution. 

The first kindergarten in the United States was established in the 
by Elizabeth Peabody in Boston in i860. In the next ten years Umted States 
a number of private kindergartens were established. Under the 
leadership of Dr. W. T. Harris and Miss Susan Blow, — among 
the most prominent Froebelian exponents in this country, — 
the kindergarten was first made a part of the public school 



348 Brief Course in the History of Education 

system in St, Louis in 1873. Since that time the movement 
has developed until there is scarcely a city of any size but what 
has incorporated the kindergarten as a component part of its 
public schools. 

SUMMARY 

] The psychological tendency in education was the reduction of the natu- 
(ralistic movement to scientific principle and to practical schoolroom pro- 
cedure. Its leading exponents attempted a reconciliation, in philosophical 
terms, of the old education of effort with the new education based on natural 
interests. Various attempts were made to work out a psychological basis 
for education. Many of the early attempts were empirical; more recently, 
the development of the science of psychology has rendered possible a more 
scientific basis. Other practical characteristics of the movement were 
(i) the new attention paid to method; (2) a new desire to base educational 
procedure upon a knowledge of and sympathy for the child; (3) a new 
interest in elementary education; and consequently (4) a new emphasis 
upon the possibility of universal education. The great eighteenth century 
representatives of the movement were Pestalozzi, Herbart and Froebel. 
With Pestalozzi and his followers, education was considered to be the har- 
monious natural development of the child, intellectually, morally and physi- 
cally. The possibility of thus developing a perfected personality in all 
gave a new meaning to popular education as a measure of social reform. 
But such an education had little in common with the old education of ac- 
quisition of knowledge, which perpetuated social classes and the degrada- 
tion of the masses. The idea of education as organic development gave a 
new meaning to educational means and method. With Pestalozzi, the 
subject-matter of education came to be chosen more largely from the imme- 
diate environment of the child and to be used largely for the development 
of the power of sense -perception. Principles of method demanded the 
analysis of subject-matter into its component parts and an observance of 
the inductive method in proceeding from the simple elements to the mastery 
of the complex topic or subject. The school was to be modeled after the 
home; the teaching process to be controlled by a sympathetic understand- 
ing of child nature. Herbart and his followers laid chief stress upon the 
moral aim in education. Control of conduct was to be secured through 
ideas. Thus the instructive process, including both the selection of material 
and the process of uniting this new material with the previous experiences 
of the child became of supreme importance. 'These ideas were based upon 
a psychology, scientifically elaborated, in which the process of apper- 
ception and the control of interests were the chief theories. As a result 



Psychological Tendency in Education 349 

the Herbartians elaborated a theory of subject-matter based on the epochs 
of cultural development; a theory of the organization of the curriculum 
based on the correlation of studies, and upon the unity of experience 
and of knowledge; and a theory of a formal method based on a knowledge 
of the psychical process. The Herbartian influence exalted the teacher 
and the instructive process. The Froebelian tendency laid chief emphasis 
upon the importance of the child, upon self -activity as the basis and method 
of all instruction, upon natural interests as the initial point of all instruc- 
tion, upon play, constructive work and study of nature as the chief means 
of instruction. The Froebelian philosophy is in accord with the chief 
principles in recent educational thought. These are (i) the supreme im- 
portance of natural interests in the selection of subject-matter and in the 
process of study; (2) the necessity of giving to all such learning processes, 
once begun, a social meaning drawn from present life; (3) the importance 
of having all such instruction processes terminate in activity as directly 
as possible; in other words, of giving all education processes a social and 
hence moral and practical meaning. Present educational thought is 
largely a synthesis of Herbartian and Froebelian ideas, in which the latter 
are more in accord with prevailing philosophical, psychological and scien- 
tific thought. 



CHAPTER XII 



THE MODERN SCIENTIFIC TENDENCY 



The scien- 
tific tend- 
ency is the 
continuation 
of sense- 
realism. 



The two 
essential 
features 



Prominence 
of the scien- 
tific move- 
ment in 
schools due 
to remark- 
able develop- 
ment and 
better or- 
ganization of 
the natural 
sciences 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. — It will be recalled that 
the sense- realists of the seventeenth century represented the 
beginnings of modern science. There is no break in the develop- 
ment of this scientific thought; but conditions gave unprece- 
dented importance to the scientific tendency in education 
from the opening of the nineteenth century. Among these con- 
ditions were the great development of the physical and biological 
sciences, the influence of the naturalistic tendency in exalting 
the value of contact with nature, and the inadequacy of the old 
humanistic education as a preparation for modem life. The 
influence of the psychological tendency, especially of Pesta- 
lozzianism as object teaching and training of the sense-percep- 
tions, was also marked. 

The dominant characteristics of the modem scientific tendency 
in education were the same as those of the sense-realistic tend- 
ency. These were: first, the emphasis upon the importance of 
the content of studies and of the knowledge of the phenomena 
of nature; and, second, a recognition of the transcendent value 
of the inductive method of study. The immediate educational 
response in both of these respects was due chiefly to the develop- 
ment and better organization of the natural sciences. 

A survey of the development of the physical and biological 
sciences from the sixteenth century to the present time will be 
most helpful in throwing light upon the development of present 
educational thought and practices. Such a survey cannot be 
made in the brief space of this text, but the material can be 
gleaned from the various histories of science. 

350 



The Modern Scientific Tendency 351 

It is not until a subject of human interest or aspect of human 
experience receives a definite logical formulation that it can 
demand a place in the instruction of the school. The perfec- 
tion of organization of grammatical, linguistic and mathematical 
studies made it difficult to effect any change in the organization 
of the school curriculum. There resulted a prolonged struggle 
against the prevailing disciplinary or classical-mathematical 
education for the recognition of the sciences. This produced a 
most extensive literature, vv^hich can be noticed here only by 
the discussion of two or three of the most notable movements 
and the work of two of the most notable representatives. 

EDUCATIONAL DEMANDS OF MODERN LIFE. — Among Conflict with 
Teutonic educators, the opposition to the dominant disciplinary *^ disapim- 

ary concep- 

education has been based upon psychological and philosophical tion of 
grounds. Consequently it has centered around the question of education 
method. Among the English-speaking peoples the opposition Demand for 
has been based largelv upon practical and "common-sense" i^^troduction 

. , of sciences 

grounds, and has centered more around the question of subject- based 
matter. The chief argument for the general introduction of the y^^iue of'^^^" 
sciences into the curriculum and for a complete revolution in subject- 
the character of education has been based upon the demands ™^"" 
made by modem life. Demands 

The movement of the first half of the nineteenth century was ^odern^ufe 
led by enthusiastic and well-designing reformers. They were 
not men of any broad scientific reputation or knowledge, such as George 
later appeared in Spencer and Huxley, or men who had any ^^^^^ ^"*^ 
such fundamental grasp of the educational problem as had school" 
Herbart or Froebel. Most prominent among the English re- ^o'^^ment m 
formers was George Combe (i 788-1858), who represented a Britain 
considerable body of influential followers and headed a move- 
ment of practical reform of great influence. 

Two general lines of argument were followed by these earlier 

advocates of science. The first was based upon the distinction 

which they made between "instrumental" knowledge and posi- 

(tive knowledge. "Instrumental" subjects were those which 



352 Brief Course in the History of Education 

furnished the means to gain further knowledge, and they alone 
had intrinsic worth for the individual. The former included all 
the linguistic and much of the mathematical knowledge. Thus 
languages, grammar, writing, much of arithmetic, algebra, and 
all of pure mathematics merely provided means for obtaining a 
knowledge of the physical, intellectual, moral, social, political 
and religious world around us. Such knowledge was essential 
to the individual in regulating his hfe and promoting his own 
and the social welfare. These reformers argued that the 
dominant disciplinary education of their day directed all atten- 
tion to subjects that were merely instruments and never reached 
the subjects that really gave one the knowledge necessary to 
make life successful, useful and happy. 

In their second line of argument the early advocates of a re- 
formed curriculum considered education from much the same 
point of view as did the disciplinarians. Education should not 
only give to the individual such knowledge as would enable 
him to perform intelligently the various duties of life, but it 
should give the best possible training to all of his mental faculties 
in order that this great end might be' attained. The old faculty 
conception of the mind prevailed, as did also the idea that it 
was a function of education to train these faculties. 

The more recent form of the view that the knowledge of value 
in education is that demanded by modern life may be sum- 
marized as follows : The elements which now enter into culture 
are very different from those of a few hundred years ago. New 
literatures have developed to vie with those of the Greeks and 
Romans; the arts have been perfected beyond the dreams of 
the imagination of those ages; new sciences have been created; 
and there now exists a knowledge of nature and of her forces 
that in comparison with the interpretation of preceding cen- 
turies seems most exhaustive and positive. Consequently it is 
necessary to define anew the liberal education. Studies are no 
longer considered to be liberal in proportion to their remoteness 
from practical bearing, but, on the contrary, in proportion to 



The Mode, 

their direct relationship to life. A liberal education is one The new 
which fits a man so well for his profession, for his life as a d«'fi"'t'o'^ of 

...... 3- liberal 

citizen and for all of his activities in life, that he is very much education 
broader than that profession, seeing the import of his life in 
institutions. Civil, mechanical, chemical engineering, the prac- 
tical application of any of the sciences, may become learned 
professions. If the individual is so equipped with a knowledge 
of the fundamental sciences that he is perfectly "free" through 
his mastery of his subject and "free" in the hfe that grows out 
from and is based upon that profession, the preparation for 
this may in itself offer a liberal education. Such an education 
must contain more than the mere rudiments or the technical 
instruction necessary for a practitioner in these arts; it must 
include a thorough mastery of them. For such a career the 
study of the French and German languages, contributing as subjects 
these hteratures may in the broadest manner to one's success necessary m 
by opening to him the experience of other peoples of advanced education in 
civilization, is far more liberal than the ordinary instruction in ^^^ present 
Greek or Latin would be. Similarly the social, pohtical and 
economic sciences, contributing as they do a knowledge of the 
complex activities, interests and forces of modem social life, 
are liberal in the sense that the old disciplinary use of mathe- 
matics could not be. True, a man in such lines of scientific 
activity would need a most thorough course in mathematics. 
But the purpose of such study would be entirely different from 
the disciplinary aim, as would also the materials of study and 
the method. 

A liberal education is one containing the best culture material The new 
of the life for which it is designed to prepare; and it is liberal culture and 
only to the extent that it includes these materials. The natural educate 
sciences most largely contributed to the culture of the nine- 
teenth century. In a similar way the social sciences are now 
being developed, with much of inspiration, purpose and method 
borrowed from the natural sciences. Every aspect of life and 
thought of the present age has been modified and given its tone 

2a 



tion 



j:> 



54 Brief Course 1:1 the history of Education 



Necessity for 

elective 

studies 



The de- 
mocratiza- 
tion of the 
liberal edu- 
cation 



Connection 
between the 
scientific 
education 
and the 
sociological 
and psy- 
chological 



and color by the development of the natural sciences. There- 
fore, an education that constitutes a liberal preparation for 
present life must include a large element of these studies. 

But since it is impossible that every youth to be educated 
should master even the rudiments of all these sciences in addition 
to much of the old material, the representatives of this view of 
education have usually contented themselves w^ith demanding 
freedom of choice in the selection of studies and the recognition 
by educational authorities of the equivalence in value of the 
sciences in the course of study. 

With the prevalence of such a conception of a liberal educa- 
tion and such an organization of its subjects, it will be possible 
for the ordinary practitioner in any of the professions to com- 
bine a liberal with a professional or technical education. So 
long as these two types of education are kept so entirely distinct 
that the person who has the one cannot have the other, and so 
long as the liberal education is restricted to the mastery of a 
few subjects to which the majority of men who enter the intel- 
lectual callings in life cannot devote time, it must follow that 
the great majority, even of those who lead and who sustain the 
life of a community, will continue to be denied the privileges of 
a liberal education. 

In England the men who have contributed to the establish- 
ment of this view, chief among whom were Spencer and Huxley, 
have labored for the most part outside of the universities; in 
America the most prominent of such leaders, notably President 
Eliot of Harvard, have been in connection with educational 
institutions. 

With regard to the subject-matter of education, the scientific 
view first presented agrees with the sociological. With regard 
to the foundation of method and the interpretation of the edu- 
cation of interest, — through the freedom of selection of sub- 
jects, — it agrees with the psychological. 

THE THEORY OF EDUCATION FORMULATED BY THE 
NATURAL SCIENTISTS. — It was not until the middle of the 



The Modern Scientific Tendency 355 

nineteenth century, when the organization of the natural sciences 
had become perfected, that a modern presentation of their edu- 
cational claims could be made. The first of these, and yet the 
most influential, at least for Anglo-Saxon thought, was that by 
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). 

Spencer's "Education, Intellectual, Moral and Physical," Herbert 
was issued in i860. The fundamental characteristic of the "^^H^^f^^ 
scientific tendency is revealed early in the treatise in his dis- 
cussion of the importance of the selection of subjects of study 
as the vital theory in education. 



"If there needs any further evidence of the rude, undeveloped character General in- 

of our education, we have it in the fact that the comparative worths of difference to 

different kinds of knowledge have been as yet scarcely even discussed — education 
~ •' , . and espe- 

much less discussed in a methodic way with definite results. Not only is cially to 

it that no standard of relative values has yet been agreed upon; but the question of 
existence of any such standard has not been conceived in any clear manner. ^^J^^ °^ 
And not only is it that the existence of any such standard has not been g^^^y^ 
clearly conceived; but the need for it seems to have been scarcely even felt. 
Men read books on this topic and attend lectures on that; decide that 
their children shall be instructed in these branches of knowledge and shall 
not be instructed in those; and all under the guidance of mere custom, or 
liking or prejudice; without ever considering the enormous importance of 
determining in some rational way what things are really most worth learn- 
ing. It is true that in all circles we have occasional remarks on the impor- 
tance of this or the other order of information. But whether the degree 
of its importance justifies the expenditure of the time needed to acquire it; 
and whether there are not things of more importance to which the time 
might be better devoted; are queries which, if raised at all, are disposed of 
quite summarily, according to personal predilections. It is true, also, that 
from time to time we hear revived the standing controversy respecting the 
comparative merits of classics and mathematics. Not only, however, is 
this controversy carried on in an empirical manner, with no reference to 
an ascertained criterion, but the question at issue is totally insignificant 
when compared with the general question of which it is part. To suppose Meager 
that deciding whether a mathematical or a classical education is the best, limits of the 
is deciding what is the proper curriculum, is much the same thing as to ^""^ itiona 

° rr ,..,1 ij curriculum 

suppose that the whole of dietetics lies m determmmg whether or not bread 
is more nutritive than potatoes." 



356 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Influence of 
Bacon and 
Rousseau 



Education 
should be a 
practical 
preparation 
for life 



Classifica- 
tion of sub- 
tects of 
study on 
basis of im- 
portance as a 
preparation 
for living 



The new purpose, basis and method of education emphasized 
by Bacon are here again clearly presented. The purpose of 
education is defined as preparation for complete living. This 
in turn is judged largely from the point of view of the welfare 
of the individual, though of the individual as living in a fully 
developed society. Rousseau's influence is evident, but the 
thought appears in a radically modified form. "How to live? 
— that is the essential question for us. Not how to live in the 
mere material sense only, but in the widest sense. The general 
problem which comprehends every special problem is — the 
right ruling of conduct in all directions under all circumstances. 
. . . To prepare us for complete living is the function which 
education has to discharge; and the only rational mode of 
judging of any educational course is to judge in what degree it 
discharges such function." 

This preparation for complete living consists, first, in the 
acquisition of knowledge that is best adapted for the develop- 
ment of individual and social life ; and, secondly, in the develop- 
ment of the power to use this knowledge. What knowledge is 
of most worth becomes, as with Rousseau and with Bacon, the 
chief question of educational importance. To this question 
Spencer gives this definite categorical answer. Knowledge 
which leads directly to self-preservation, such as is included in 
the sciences of physiology, hygiene, physics and chemistry, is 
of first importance. Knowledge which leads indirectly to self- 
preservation through the sciences and arts relating to the secur- 
ing of food, clothing and shelter comes next. Third in order 
of importance is the knowledge of rearing of offspring, which, 
in strange contrast with the attention given to the breeding of 
animals and the training required of a builder of bridges or a 
maker of shoes, is wholly neglected. On the other hand, any 
parent or teacher is presumed to be capable of bringing up a 
child without any preparation. Fourth in order is the knowl- 
edge of social and political life such as shall make one an intel- 
ligent citizen and neighbor. Last of all comes the knowledge of 



TJie Modern Scientific Tendency 357 

literature, art, aesthetics, including foreign languages and litera- Subjects of 
ture, which, occupying the leisure of life, should also occupy \, educa- 
the leisure of education. Thus the natural sciences demanded tion come 
by the first three needs take precedence over the social sciences ^ 
demanded by the fourth need and over the "liberal" or "cul- 
ture" subjects, which at that time formed the basis of all 
school work. While this constitutes a negation of the A new con- 
Renaissance emphasis upon literature and languages, it is knowledge 
not, as w^ith Rousseau, a denial of the value of knowledge. 
It is, on the contrary, an altogether new emphasis upon that 
value. 

Frequent objection is made to the utilitarian character of Spencer's 
Spencer's view, to its somewhat radical application of Rousseau's umitarfan 
test, "Of what use?" It is true that this test led to a rejection but moral 
of all that was held most dear in educational tradition especially, 
and of the idea that a subject lost its educational value as it 
gained practical value. Yet the utilitarianism of the scientists 
was almost identical with the "practical"- of Kant and the 
"aesthetic" of Herbart. They all indicate what is commonly 
meant by the term moral. That which affects conduct di- 
rectly, improves life, benefits man individually or in society, is 
'"utiHtarian." Spencer did subordinate the amenities of life, 
but chiefly that he might gain for the neglected many what 
hitherto had been the perquisite of the privileged few. It has 
been said that Spencer sacrificed that which is higher in life — 
its culture — for that which is lower — its practical advantage. 
On the contrary, he emphasized the importance of the cultural 
elements in an entirely new way. His argument is that all 
these phases of knowledge should be emphasized and that every 
individual should be permitted some attainment or acquisition 
in each. In place of an educational and social scheme which Culture eie- 
gave to a limited few the education of a life of leisure without ^fj^jna^ed 
any of the practically useful, and to others an education of the but given a 
most meager character in the dullest routine of life, he demanded 
such a readjustment as should give to every individual an educa- 



358 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Spencer over- 
estimates the 
value of 
knowledge 
as a prepa- 
ration 



His prin- 
ciples of 
method do 
not go be- 
yond those of 
Pestalozzi 



Moral 
training by 
natural 
conse- 
quences 



Practical 
educational 
activity of 
Huxley 



tion including some of all these elements, emphasized in the 
order mentioned. 

Another criticism is found in the objection, raised from the 
pedagogical point of view, that education is not a preparation 
for life, but that it is life. To a certain extent this objection is 
a mere juggling with words. So far as valid, it is that Spencer 
overestimated the value of knowledge as a preparation. This 
is characteristic of the entire scientific tendency. Yet this error 
is combined with a truer conception of the nature of knowledge 
than was the case in previous educational theories where the 
same defect existed. On the other hand, by way of justifica- 
tion, it must be recognized that Spencer's position is but a re- 
action against the over-emphasis on method given by the dis- 
ciphnarians and, in a quite different way, by those representing 
the psychological tendency. It will be recognized that, on this 
point, the scientific tendency is a more radical reactibn against 
the disciplinary view of education than was the psychological. 

In the essay on Intellectual Education^ Spencer discusses more 
fully the question of method. This discussion consists only in 
an elaboration of a number of Pestalozzi's principles; — educa- 
tion should proceed from the simple to the complex, from the 
concrete to the abstract, from empirical to rational, and should be 
pleasurable He adds nothing of value to these. The one 
principle, previously noted under Rousseau, that all moral 
training should result from allowing the child to suffer the 
natural consequences of his own action, is emphasized as the 
essence of moral education. 

Thomas H. Huxley (1825-1895) accomplished more for the 
actual extension of education in the natural sciences than any 
other living Englishman. Though Huxley's writings or ad- 
dresses on education are very numerous, his main points are 
but a reemphasis of those made by Spencer, Bacon and others, 
put in a somewhat dilTerent form. The practical purpose, the 
realistic basis, the criticism of the prevailing literary and classical 
education, is given in the following trenchant passage : — 



The Modern Scientific Tendency 



359 



" Now let us pause to consider this wonderful state of affairs ; for the 
time will come when Englishmen will quote it as the stock example of the 
stolid stupidity of their ancestors in the nineteenth century. The most 
thoroughly commercial people, the greatest voluntary wanderers and 
colonists the world has ever seen, are precisely the middle classes of this 
country. If there be a people which has been busy making history on the 
great scale for the last three hundred years, — and the most profoundly 
interesting history, — history which, if it happened to be that of Greece or 
Rome, we should study with avidity — it is the English. If there be a 
people which, during the same period, has developed a remarkable litera- 
ture, it is our own. If there be a nation whose prosperity depends abso- 
lutely and wholly upon their mastery over the forces of nature, upon their 
intelligent apprehension of, and obedience to, the laws of creation, and 
distribution of wealth, and of the stable equilibrium of the forces of society, 
it is precisely this nation. And yet this is what these wonderful people tell 
their sons: 'At the cost of from one to two thousand pounds of our hard- 
earned money, we devote twelve of the most precious years of your lives to 
school. There you shall toil, or be supposed to toil; but there you shall 
not learn one single thing of all those you will most want to know directly 
you leave school and enter upon the practical business life. You will in 
all probability go into business, but you shall not know where, or how, 
any article of commerce is produced, or the difference between an export 
or an import, or the meaning of the word "capital." You will very likely 
settle in a colony, but you shall not know whether Tasmania is part of New 
South Wales, or vice versa. . . . You will very likely get into the House 
of Commons. You will have to take your share in making laws which may 
prove a blessing or a curse to millions of men. But you shall not hear one 
word respecting the political organization of your country; the meaning 
of the controversy between free traders and protectionists shall never 
have been mentioned to you; you shall not so much as know that there are 
such things as economical laws. The mental power which will be of most 
importance in your daily life will be the power of seeing things as they are 
without regard to authority; and of drawing accurate general conclusions 
from particular facts. But at school and at college you shall know of no 
source of truth but authority; nor exercise your reasoning faculty upon 
anything but deduction from that which is laid down by authority. You 
will have to weary your soul with work, and many a time eat your bread in 
sorrow and in bitterness, and you shall not have learned to take refuge in 
the great source of pleasure without alloy, the serene resting place for worn 
human nature, — the world of art.' Said I not rightly that we are a 
wonderful people? I am quite prepared to allow that education entirely 
devoted to these omitted subjects might not be completely liberal education. 



Illogical and 
unpractical 
education of 
English 
youth from 
" A Liberal 
Education," 
in Science 
and Educa- 
tion, p. 94 



Knowledge 
one will need 
to use not 
given in the 
schools 



Nor the in- 
tellectual or 
practical 
abilities 
one's duties 
will demand 



360 Brief Course in the History of Education 



The tradi- 
tional educa- 
tion not a 
liberal one 



Prevailing 
education 
not even 
literary 



Huxley's 
definition of a 
liberal edu- 
cation, from 
" A Liberal 
Education " 
in Science 
and, Educa- 
tion, p. 86 



But is an education which ignores them all a liberal education? Nay, 
is it too much to say that the education which should embrace these subjects 
and no others would be a real education, though an incomplete one; while 
an education which omits them is really not an education at all, but a more 
or less useful course of intellectual gymnastics?" 

Huxley did not admit that the prevaihng education was 
literary, for the study of grammar and language structure is 
scientific rather than literary. The schoolboy never reached the 
literary stage ; and the training he got in the languages was very 
poor science as to its method, and of no value at all in content. 
The argument that universal and practical education would be 
of no avail since neither poverty, crime, nor misery had de- 
creased with education, he answered by saying that this fact 
simply showed the uselessness of the old education, without 
revealing any theory about a truer educational procedure- 

The purpose, nature and method of education is stated in 
Huxley's notable description of the product of a liberal educa- 
tion. 

"That man, I think, has had a liberal education who has been so trained 
in youth that his body is the ready servant of his will, and does with ease 
and pleasure all the work that, as a mechanism, it is capable of; whose 
intellect is a clear, cold, logic engine, with all its parts of equal strength, 
and in smooth working order; ready, like a steam engine, to be turned to 
any kind of work, and spin the gossamers as well as forge the anchors of 
the mind; whose mind is stored with a knowledge of the great and funda- 
mental truths of nature, and of the laws of her operations; one who, no 
stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but whose passions are trained to 
come to heel by a vigorous will, the servant of a tender conscience; who 
has learned to love all beauty, whether of nature or of art, to hate all vile- 
ness and to respect others as himself. Such an one, and no other, I con- 
ceive has had a liberal education ; for he is, as completely as a man can be, 
in harmony with nature." 

SCIENCE IN THE SCHOOLS. In the Universities and Col- 
leges. — The scientific study of nature was fostered in the 
earlier centuries of the modern era more by academies of science, 
beginning with that of Naples in 1560, than by the universities. 
While the scientific spirit was embodied in the University of 



The Modern Scientific Tendency 361 

Halle from its foundations, it was in these academies and real- Work of 
schools that science received its chief cultivation in Germany, scknce'more 
Modern scientific teaching in the sense of experimental use of important 
laboratories by students began with Liebig at Giessen in 1825. ^ork in^ 
In France the beginnings of higher instruction in science of a universities 
modern type were also outside of the universities. The Re- 
public, in 1794, founded the normal school at Paris, where the 
most famous French scientists, including Laplace and Lagrange, 
gave instruction. In England scientific instruction developed 
altogether independently of the universities. The College of Advanced 
Chemistry was founded in 184^, and the School of Mines was ^"^"*'^^ 

■' ^^^ instruction 

established by the government in 1851. The Department of in England 
Science and Art, founded in 1853, also fostered advanced scien- u^ygrsities 
tific study. The royal schools above mentioned, together with 
the normal training classes started in 1868, were gradually 
brought together, and in 1890 were reorganized under the title 
of the Royal College of Science. Engineering schools and 
science schools in connection with the army and navy had 
already been instituted shortly after the middle of the century. 
In i860 the Faculty of Science was created in the University of 
London, and the degrees of doctor and bachelor of science were 
first given. It was not until 1869 that the courses in science 
were estabhshed in any number in Oxford and Cambridge. 
While there has been rapid development recently, and while a 
large Carnegie fund has been devoted to fostering science in 
the Scottish universities, it is generally recognized that Great 
Britain has been almost a century behind the continent in the 
teaching of science. 

In the United States. — Science appeared in the curriculum Science in 
of American colleges in the earliest days. During the 17th and e^^iy^^^"* 

° y o / can colleges 

1 8th centuries, however, it was a most formal text-book study 
of astronomy and perhaps physics. 

The opening of courses in medicine at King's in 1767, at Founding of 
Harvard in 1782, and at Pennsylvania in 1791, was an impor- ^^^'^'^l 
tant aspect of the development of the study of the sciences. 



362 Brief Cotcrse in the History of Education 

In 1825, at Harvard, mechanics and optics appeared as 
separate courses; mineralogy and geology were added to 
astronomy, chemistry and natural history; electricity and mag- 
netism first appeared as separate subjects; the philosophy of 
natural history was announced as a separate course and special 
lectures in physiology were given. Mineralogy, geology and 
botany appeared at Princeton in 1830, as had chemistry in 1803 
and natural history still earlier. To natural philosophy, chem- 
istry, astronomy and geography the subjects of mineralogy and 
geology were added at Yale in 1824. Electricity appeared as a 
separate course in the University of Pennsylvania in 181 1. 

So far as mentioned, these scientific subjects were all incor- 
porated as required studies, and the disciplinary conception of 
education prevailed and was distinctly enunciated by various 
faculties. 

The importance of interest and of the capacities and desires 
of the individual began to be recognized before the middle of 
the nineteenth century. The University of Virginia was estab- 
lished in 1825 upon the basis of the complete freedom of choice 
by the student. Advocacy of this system at Harvard began in 
1825, and considerable freedom was allowed students from 
about 1845. Not until 1869 was the system of complete free- 
dom in election of studies established, with the administration 
of President Eliot. Earlier than this Presidents Wayland of 
Brown and Nott of Union had stood for this broader conception 
of the college course. With the elective system came the general 
ascendency of the scientific subjects. The establishment of 
Cornell University, in 1867, upon a basis of complete freedom 
with a strong bias in favor of the scientific and technical sub- 
jects, completed this phase of the movement toward the general 
introduction of the sciences into higher education. Meanwhile, 
in Harvard (1847) ^^^ Yale (i860) special schools of science 
had been established. 

The earliest scientific school of higher grade was the Rens- 
selaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824 at Albany, New 



The Modern Scientific Tendency 363 

York. The advanced character of the scientific work can be Congres- 



sional aid to 

scientific 



judged from this direction to the board of trustees: "These [the 
students] are not to be taught by seeing experiments and hearing instruction 
lectures according to the usual method, but they are to lecture 
and experiment by turn, under the immediate direction of a 
professor or competent assistant. Thus by a term of labor, 
like apprentices to a trade, they are to become operative chem- 
ists." The Morrill land grant of 1862, by which Congress ap- 
propriated thirteen million acres of land for the maintenance in 
each state of a college devoted chiefly to those branches of learn- 
ing related to agriculture and mechanic arts, though "without 
excluding other scientific and classical studies," developed an 
entirely new type of scientific school. These are the schools of 
applied science found either in connection with state universities 
or as independent institutions in almost every state in the Union. 
Science in the Secondary Schools. — In Germany the intro- 
duction of science through the sense-realistic movement has 
been noted. Through the influence of the philanthropists 
(p. 299), and of the materiahstic thought on the one hand 
and the new humanistic movement (p. 269) on the other, the 
rigid classical conception of education was modified. In 1816 
science was introduced into the Prussian gymnasien, and at a 
somewhat later period into those of the southern German states. 
Though but two hours per week were allotted to physics and 
natural history, — and even less in the southern or Catholic 
regions, — science retained its hold upon the classical schools, 
despite the reactionary movement that took place between 18 15 
and 1848. In 1855 two types of real-schooh were recognized, and real. 
In 1882 these became the Realgymnasium of nine years' course 
with I^atin, the Oberrealschule of nine years' course without 
Latin, and the real-schule of a less number of years. In these 
schools thirty-six week-hours for the nine years, which is 
twice the time given to them in the gymnasium, are given 
to natural history, physics, chemistry and mineralogy. Much 
greater emphasis is also placed upon mathematics, geography 



schulen 



364 Brief Course in the History of Education 

and drawing. Allied to the real-schulen are the technical schools, 
which have achieved such practical success and such perfection 
of method and organization during the present generation. 
These began with the technical schools of Nuremberg, organized 
in 1823. While technical subjects are most emphasized, the 
scientific and mathematical subjects as the bases for the work 
in the applied sciences are made prominent. Such schools have 
increased in prominence and numbers since the middle of the 
century (p. 399). 

In England, as in our own country, the introduction of scien- 
tific subjects into the secondary curriculum was identical with 
the academy movement. But the academies declined during 
the early nineteenth century and little was done to continue 
any interest in the study of the sciences. With the second 
quarter of the nineteenth century the popular controversy be- 
tween the sciences and the classics in secondary education began 
and was continued with enthusiasm for many years (p. 351). 
Various "secular schools" were founded and a society was 
established to foster secondary schools that should emphasize 
the sciences instead of the classics. 

In 1856, in answer to the expressed opinion of the University 
Commissions for Winchester, "that good elementary instruction 
in physical science is essential in the case of many boys, de- 
sirable in all cases, and perfectly compatible with a first-rate 
classical education," that college instituted a course "of ten or 
twelve lectures — delivered once a year." After ten years this 
was extended into a series of lectures continuing throughout the 
year with appropriate examinations. After the public school 
acts of Parliament in 1868, which revealed that there was an 
almost total absence of study of the sciences in the five hundred 
and seventy-two endowed secondary schools, a "modem side" 
came to be organized in all of the more prominent of these 
schools. This was accomplished tardily in some and with 
minor attention and unconcealed disparagement in all. Natural 
history and physics along with modem languages and history 



The Modern Scientific Tendency 365 

were included in this modern side. While this condition has 
much improved, the serious attention given to instruction in the 
sciences is fostered by the Department for Science and Art (in 
1898 combined with the Department of Education). This de- 
partment was created in 1853, though little of importance was 
done until after 1859. Schools or classes in which instruction 
is afforded in physics, zoology, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, 
botany, as well as in a variety of practical subjects, are now 
granted a subvention. In this manner more than ten thou- 
sand classes are assisted at the present time. In 1901 there 
were seventy-eight independent "science schools" of secondary 
rank. 

In America the academies were the home of instruction in Science in 
the sciences from the first (p. 251). Astronomy and "natural ^feso^the 
philosophy" were the ones most emphasized, since these were United states 
most formulated during the eighteenth century. Geography 
was almost universally taught in these schools and chemistry 
frequently. A list of text-books published in the United States 
in 1804 includes six geographies as the only scientific text-books 
besides those of applied mathematics, such as surveying and 
navigation. By 1832 there were 39 geographies, 11 astrono- 
mies, 6 botanies, 5 chemistries, 6 natural philosophies. Most 
of these were designed for use in academies. It is needless to 
add that all the sciences were studied from books, though resort 
to experimentation with apparatus was frequently made for 
illustration. The first unmistakable evidence that any of these 
subjects composed a vital part of the secondary curriculum was 
the inclusion of geography among the college entrance require- 
ments by Harvard in 1807. No other science followed as an 
entrance requirement until physical geography was added in 
1870, and physics two years later. 

With the development of the early high schools, the emphasis and in the 
upon the sciences was continued. The earliest high school, ^^^^^ 
that of Boston, founded in 182 1, included geography in the 
first year; geometry, trigonometry, navigation and surveying 



366 Brief Course in the History of Education 

in the second; and natural philosophy and astronomy in the 
third. All of the earlier schools of this type, whether called 
free academies, city colleges, English classical schools, union 
schools, or high schools, continued the same attitude toward 
the sciences. After 1870 the character of these schools was 
vastly improved, their number was increased, and the work in 
science was expanded to include physics, chemistry, botany and 
zoology, in well-organized courses. Until quite recently, how- 
ever, the policy of giving numerous general courses of superficial 
character prevailed over that of a more substantial mastery by 
more thorough experimental methods of the principles of one 
or two sciences. While the curriculum of the high school gives 
an important place to the sciences, the institution itself was an 
outgrowth of the sociological tendency to be noted later. 

Science in the Elementary School. — In Germany the influence 
of the naturalistic tendency under Basedow has been mentioned. 
It was the Pestalozzian movement, introduced into Prussia in 
1 8 10, and into other German states later, that made such ele- 
mentary science studies general. Geometry was incorporated 
into the curriculum of the upper grades and drawing was offered 
throughout the course. Geography, taught by the inductive 
method and introducing much general information of scientific 
character, was included throughout. The study of science, in- 
cluding elementary physics, physiology, and natural history that 
dealt with the phenomena of botany and zoology in an ele- 
mentary scientific way, was introduced into the middle and 
Present state Upper grades. In most of the grades these sciences were allowed 
two hours a week, though in some of the upper grades four. 
This remains the situation to the present time. For almost a 
century, then, science has been recognized as one of the sub- 
jects of the elementary schools throughout almost the whole of 
the German- speaking countries. 

In England. — The condition of elementary schools was so 
chaotic until the establishment of board, or public, schools in 
1870, that it is difficult to speak of general conditions. The 



The Modern Scientific Tendency 367 

attitude of the Department of Science and Art in fostering Required 
science study, especially in giving encouragement to drawing suppiemen- 
and recently to manual training, has been mentioned. The tary subjects 
establishment of numerous organized science schools since 1872 schook^of^^ 
by the same department has also been referred to. Until 1900 England 
the "three R's" were the only required studies in the primary 
schools. The teaching of other subjects was controlled by the 
governmental grants given for results in various subjects. The 
most popular of these supplementary subjects were geography 
and elementary science. These have now been included in the 
compulsory course. 

In the United States. — The question concerning the proper 
subjects for the elementary curriculum hardly existed before 
the middle of the nineteenth century. The "three R's," The "three 
reading, writing and arithmetic, with spelling and grammar, Americar"^^^ 
were without any rivals whatever. In fact, the average school schools 
included only reading, spelling and English grammar, while 
those of a superior sort added writing, arithmetic, geography 
and history.* 

The first subject of scientific character that made any head- introduction 
way in its claims for representation was geography. By 1832, pw°oio^ ^' 
thirty-nine geographies and atlases, many of them for ele- 
mentary school work, had been published in the United States. 
The second subject of scientific nature to find entrance into the 
elementary curriculum was physiology. This was especially 
the case in the New England region, and was due to the advo- 
cacy of Horace Mann , who, from 1837, continued his propa- 
ganda in favor of this subject. The first English text book on 
physiology of elementary character appeared in 1837; its intro- 
duction into elementary schools followed slowly, and in 1850 
the state legislature of Massachusetts made compulsory the 
teaching of the subject in the elementary schools. Object teach- and nature 
ing, and along with this the study of simple phenomena of 
nature, were introduced through the Pestalozzian movement 
' Hinsdale, Horace Mann and the Common School Revival, Ch. I. 



368 Brief Course in the History of Education 

(pp. 317-8). Nature study has been a more recent outgrowth 
of this and other influences. 



SUMMARY 

The scientific tendency during nineteenth-century education is but a 
continuation of the movement discussed under the sense-realism of the 
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The chief characteristics are emphasis 
on the importance (i) of the content of studies and especially of the knov^^l- 
edge of natural phenomena, and (2) of the inductive method of study. 
This movement becomes especially prominent during the nineteenth century 
because of the great development of the natural sciences and the necessity 
for a knowledge of these as a practical equipment for life as a part of 
modern culture. This leads to a new conception of a liberal education, 
namely, that it should contain the best culture material of the life for which 
it is designed to prepare. A necessity for a choice among subjects arises 
and the modem principle of election or choice among subjects results. 
The scientific tendency harmonizes with the sociological in that both make 
for the democratization of education or the liberalizing of all education so 
far as possible. While there were many advocates of scientific education 
during the nineteenth century, the most noted among English-speaking 
people were Spencer and Huxley. The introduction of the sciences into 
school curricula came slowly. In the universities their introduction began 
(1694) with the realistic movement in the German universities, but even 
there the reform proceeded slowly. Not until the second quarter of the 
nineteenth century did the sciences make much headway in the United 
States and not until half a century later in England. The academies, high 
schools and German fea/-schools provided for their introduction into 
secondary education. Geography was quite generally introduced into 
elementary education in the early nineteenth century. Physiology followed 
about the middle of the century. Pestalozzianism introduced nature study 
under form of object teaching. Nature study in more, recent form, agricul- 
ture and elementary physics are quite recently introduced into the most 
advanced elementary schools. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE SOCIOLOGICAL TENDENCY IN EDUCATION 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS.— The sociological and psy- Difference 
chological tendencies are not antagonistic, nor are the corre- soc^lo"ical 
sponding conceptions of education mutually exclusive. The and psycho- 
psychologists look upon education as the process of the develop- tendencies 
ment of the individual; they approach the subject through the 
study of psychical activities; they emphasize the importance 
of method. The sociologists look upon education as the process 
of perpetuating and developing society ; they approach the sub- 
ject through a study of social structure, social activities, social 
needs; they conceive the purpose of education to be the prepara- 
tion of the individual for successful participation in the economic, 
political and social activities of his fellows. 

Besides this difference in point of view and of emphasis, a Sociological 
few other characteristics may be noted. The extraordinary J-^gg'^^'^in 
interest in appropriate subjects of study for every stage of subject- 
education, from kindergarten to university, is an outgrowth R^es'ques- 
of the sociological influence. This interest raises the question of tion of edu- 
educational values. Consequently, all traditional studies have value*^^ 
been subjected to this test, with the result that some have been 
rejected and that all are being reorganized. There have been 
in almost every subject of study many elisions and many addi- 
tions. When there was raised the question. What knowledge 
is of most worth in order that the individual may take his place 
in society ? less and less importance was assigned to the purely 
linguistic and literary inheritance, and more and more to the 
knowledge of the phenomena of the natural environment, to 
the laws of the forces of nature, and to the knowledge of social 
2B 369 



370 Brief Course in the History of Education 

institutions. Thus this sociological tendency to minimize the 
old humanistic education and to accentuate the natural and 
social sciences accords with the scientific tendency. 

From the view that education is the process of the develop- 
ment of society, or the less definitely formulated view that edu- 
cation offers the best means for social betterment, there follows 
the corollary that all members of society must participate in 
this development. The growth of public school systems, 
based upon the idea of universal and free education, fol- 
lowed the acceptance of these principles as a necessary con- 
sequence. 

SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECT OF THE WRITINGS OF PESTA- 
LOZZI, HERBART AND FROEBEL. — While the dominant 
emphasis made by these men in their writings was upon the 
method of instruction and while their immediate followers were 
psychological active almost exclusively in the improvement in the process and 
spirit of educational effort, nevertheless in their theory the 
sociological aspect is very prominent. 

In all of his earlier works, before the days of Yverdun or at 
least before those at Burgdorf, the great object of search with 
Pestalozzi was a method of improving the welfare of the neg- 
lected, degraded or orphaned poor. The philanthropic motive 
was uppermost in all of these earlier experiences. But social 
wrongs were to be righted by teaching children to be industrious. 
Through teaching them the simplest elements of knowledge, and 
this chiefly in connection with handicrafts, they were to be 
started on the road to self-development and education. Edu- 
cation is ever much broader than the school. It thus becomes 
a social as well as an individual process, one which is carried 
on by a variety of institutions. Education is the process as 
well as the means of bettering society. Education is ever to 
perform more for the individual than to give him rudiments of 
learning; it is to assist him to be something for himself and to 
do something for others. It was only because he realized that 
a practical method of attaining this end was the great essential, 



The Sociological Tendency in Education 371 

that Pestalozzi turned his attention exclusively to the bettennent 
of the process of instruction. 

In the case of Herbart the social aspect of his influence ap- Sociological 
pears most clearly in two points : first, in respect to aim, which H^blrt's 
is found in character, that is, in will functioning aright in society; theory seen 
and second, in respect to subject-matter, which is to represent rt^oraior^ 
to the child, in an idealized form, the various aspects of life, social aim of 
With Herbart education was to be moral in its aim, not as in ^ ^^^1°°- 
the old dogmatic religious conception, nor even as in the philan- 
thropic, reformatory views of Pestalozzi; education is moral in 
the broader sociological sense, since education has nothing else 
as its aim but the formation of the moral nature. The whole 
problem of education is to make instruction educative in this 
sense. Character is given a much broader analysis than formerly 
it had received, at least in educational thought. Inner freedom, 
and its external expression in efficiency, benevolence, justice 
and equity, represent in a new form the well-being and well- 
doing of Aristotle, and unite the individual and the social in 
terms of educational aims. In respect to the subject-matter of (2) in the 
instruction, the Herbart ian pedagogy contains another impor- ^^'gsJ)^ 
tant sociological bearing, in that the curriculum represents to maryofcui- 
the child the summary of life in the past rather than merely so sociai^ac- 
much material for the whetting of his wits. But as this view tivities 
received further interpretation in the culture epoch theory, in 
which the curriculum represents the summary of past stages of 
culture rather than an idealization and amplification of one's 
own, its sociological import is subordinated to its psychological 
significance. 

It is with Froebel that the full social significance of the sub- With Froebel 
ject-matter of instruction, as the presentation to the child of lu^^^j^glven 
the simplified and idealized elements of his own life's environ- a social sig- 

,.pii J/ \A V t nificance and 

ment, is fully grasped (see pp. 340-1). As an epitome of represents 

life, the curriculum becomes the initial point of all instruction, society ideai- 

This conception gives education a wholly new significance, and epitomized 
that a social one. It is the working out of this conception that 



372 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Sociological 
and scien- 
tific tenden- 
cies agree in 
emphasis 
upon sub- 
ject-matter 



and in use of 
natural and 
social sci- 
ences 



Difference of 
emphasis on 
these 



Institutions 
for practical 
education 
the outcome 
of both 
movements 



forms the chief concern of education to-day. While it was the 
psychological aspect of the problem that first received chief 
recognition during the present generation, it is Froebel's peda- 
gogical thought, as it is more fully appreciated, that has come 
to have a new significance. No phase of school work has so 
closely approximated the idea of a society in microcosm as has 
the kindergarten. 

SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECT OF THE SCIENTIFIC TEND- 
ENCY. — In their emphasis on the importance of the subject- 
matter and in their opposition to the current views of the ortho- 
dox disciplinarian educators concerning the supreme importance 
of the process of acquisition of knowledge, the sociological and 
scientific tendencies coincide. However, the emphasis upon 
the supreme importance of subject-matter is from somewhat 
different points of view. The approach of the scientists to this 
position is through the value of the natural sciences as they 
bear upon the welfare of the individual; that of the sociologists 
is through the importance of both natural and social sciences 
as they equip the individual for hfe in institutions and thus 
secure the welfare of society. It is to be further noted also that 
all the prominent advocates of scientific education believe in a 
more extended educational use of the social as well as of the 
natural sciences. However the scientists and sociologists may 
differ in the solution of the problem of the curriculum, their 
point of view is the same; namely, "What knowledge is of most 
worth?" If, like Rousseau's "What is that to me?" the 
formulation of this question by the scientists is in individuahstic 
terms, it is because it is more immediately connected in time 
and sympathy with this individualism of the eighteenth and 
nineteenth centuries than are the views of the sociological 
educators. 

For the economic and utilitarian aspects of the study of the 
sciences, the sociological tendency has shown strong affinity. Pro- 
fessional, technical and commercial institutions have grown up 
quite as much in answer to sociological as to scientific demands. 



The Sociological Tendency in Education 373 

EDUCATIONAL IDEAS OF POLITICAL LEADERS.— The Eighteenth 
social and political importance of education as well as the re- recognition 
sponsibility of the state for education was first recognized by of social 
the German peoples. The beginnings of state systems of edu- oTeducati^on 
cation during the sixteenth century were outgrowths of the by German 
religious motive and conception of education. It was not until ' 

the eighteenth century that the politico-economic, or social, 
conception found full expression. The first monarchs to seize 
the idea that national prosperity and stability depended at 
bottom upon general education were Frederick the Great of 
Prussia (r. 1 740-1 786) and Maria Theresa of Austria (r. 1740- 
1780). In his famous school laws of 1763 the former recog- 
nized that it was the duty of officials to "strive for the true 
welfare of our country and of all classes of people" by "having 
a good foundation laid in the schools for a rational and Chris- 
tian education of the young for the fear of God and other use- 
ful ends." The early French republicans came to hold a similar by French 
conception of governmental responsibility for education. Wliile ^^^^ '^^^^^ 
they outlined a system, it remained for later generations to con- 
struct it. 

In our own country education was highly appreciated in the 
colonial days and found a notable exponent in Franklin. Yet 
it was either the religious conception, as with the early colonists, 
or the individualistic and utilitarian, as with Franklin's genera- 
tion, that prevailed. With our early national leaders, a new 
conception developed. 

In his message to Congress in 1 790, . Washington wrote : by American 
" Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happi- ^'^t^^°^en= 
ness. In one in which the measures of government receive their 
impression so immediately as in ours, from the sense of the com- 
munity, it is proportionally essential." Education, as the dis- 
semination of knowledge, was thus the conception which Wash- 
ington held. This undoubtedly is the approach to the subject Washing- 
most frequently made from the sociological point of view. Con- ton's views; 
sequently the importance of education lay in the effect which 



374 Brief Course iji the History of Education 

the intelligence of the people would have upon legislation. The 
chief concern of Washington lay in the establishment of edu- 
cational institutions that would serve as instruments of general 
enlightenment. In the same message he continues, "Whether 
this will be best promoted by affording aid to seminaries of 
learning already established, by the institution of a national 
university, or by any other expedients, will be well worthy a 
place in the deliberations of the Legislature." Later, he recom- 
mends the establishment of a national university and of a 
"national central agency charged with collecting and diffusing 
information and enabled by premiums and small pecuniary aids 
to encourage and assist a spirit of discovery and improvement." 
Thus he foreshadowed the work of the Bureau of Education, 
of the Smithsonian Institute, of the Carnegie Institution, and 
of the Department of Agriculture. The establishment of a 
national university is yet unrealized. 
Jefferson's Of all our early statesmen, Thomas Jefferson possessed the 

clearest grasp of the national significance of education and did 
most to promote such activities. The principle fundamental to 
this view we are here considering was announced in a letter 
to Washington in 1786. "It is an axiom in my mind that our 
liberty can never be safe but in the hands of the people them- 
selves, and that, too, of the people with a certain degree of in- 
struction. This is the business of the state to effect and on a 
general plan." Education as the safeguard of democracy is 
the general principle; the fundamental responsibility of the 
state for the education of the people is the working basis that 
comes to be accepted in the course of the following half cen- 
tury. How the tremendous task that this idea presented in 
the days of Jefferson could be accomplished could not then be 
seen. The solution awaited the gradual acceptance of this 
principle by the people and the growing ability and willingness 
to tax themselves generously for this end. With Jefferson this 
idea was bound up with the further one of local self-government. 
In other words, schools supported by local taxation, and con- 



views; 



The Sociological Tendency in Education 375 

trolled by the local community as in New England, offered the 
solution of the new problem of democracy on a large scale. Late 
in life he wrote: "There are two subjects, indeed, which I 
claim a right to further as long as I breathe, the public educa- 
tion and the subdivision of counties into wards. I consider the 
continuance of republican government as absolutely hanging on 
these two hooks." 

James Madison (i 751-1836), the third President, was, next Madison's 
to Jefferson, the most active of our earlier statesmen in edu- ^^^^ 
cational work. "A popular government without popular in- 
formation or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a 
farce or a tragedy, or perhaps both," he wrote. Consequently 
he held that "the best service that can be rendered to a coun- 
try, next to giving it liberty, is in diffusing the mental improve- 
ment equally essential to the preservation and enjojTuent of 
that blessing." 

With these two statesmen such views were not mere opinions, Practical 
for they devoted quite as much attention to educational activi- reahzaUon of 

•' ^ slow growth 

ties and interests as to those of a political character. At the 
very beginning of this greatest of experiments in popular gov- 
ernment, they realized most clearly that the success of it as 
well as the economic prosperity and social progress of the people 
depended upon their intelligence, and that such intelligence 
could be secured and guaranteed only by a most general scheme 
of education. No such system as would be adequate to the 
needs could be furnished by any other means than the state. 
As might be expected, their views were a half century or more 
in advance of the actual realization of these ideals. 

EDUCATION AS A PREPARATION FOR CITIZENSHIP. — Opposed to 
The conception of education common to all of these statesmen ualismofthe 
and public leaders is that education is primarily a preparation political 
for citizenship. For several generations people could not recog- dominant in 
nize any great distinction between this state education and the early nine- 
individuality-repressing education which Rousseau sought to century 
overthrow. In fact, in our own country, it was near or after 



2,^6 Brief Course in the History of Education 

the middle of the nineteenth century before this social concep- 
tion of education replaced the prevailing individualistic one. 
This individualism, however, v^as not the individualism of 
Rousseau and of the early psychologists, founded on the con- 
ception of education derived from a consideration of the child's 
mind; it vv^as an individualism based upon economic, political 
and social considerations. The prevailing view among those 
giving no technical consideration to the problem was that the 
function of democratic government was to give to every indi- 
vidual freedom of opportunity, — a free field and no favors, — 
and that education was to equip the individual in the best and 
briefest way for this harsh competitive struggle. With these 
premises only the most utilitarian view of education could pre- 
vail. 

In contrast with this, the sociological conception of education 
has received common acceptance through the idea that edu- 
cation is a preparation for citizenship. In the old view, the 
function of education was to develop the ability, improve the 
habits, form the character of the individual, so that he might 
prosper in his life's activities and conform to certain social 
standards of conduct. The idea emphasized in the citizenship 
conception is that individual and social welfare, happiness and 
righteousness depend more largely than ever before recognized 
upon the relations existing between persons and classes in in- 
stitutional life. Therefore education has a new work, that of 
clarifying the basal principles of this relationship and of giving 
information concerning the very complex relations in society, 
and a new aim found in social motive. The new work demands 
a readjustment of emphasis upon subjects of instruction, with 
greater attention to historic, economic and literary subjects. 
The new aim requires a greater attention to the formation of 
character, social habits, patriotic and altruistic motives. The 
first adds new emphasis to the importance of the knowledge 
side of education; the second, to the moral aim. Education 
thus becomes, though indirectly, the force modifying social in- 



The Sociological Tendency in Education 2)11 



stitutions by bringing about a better adjustment of individuals 
to one another. Progress is the characteristic of modern hfe; 
ability to adjust one's self quickly and properly to new social 
conditions is the chief demand upon education. This necessi- 
tates a knowledge of these changing conditions and an ability 
and willingness to bring about the readjustment. These are 
usually summed up under the term "good citizenship." 

PLACE OF EDUCATION IN SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY. — 
The subject of education occupies an important place in the 
sociological literature produced in the last few generations. 
Since the time of August Comtc, who founded the science of 
sociology and coined the term, various interpretations of the 
place of education in social economy have been made. It will 
be impossible in a brief space to notice many of these; a state- 
ment of four of the most important must suffice. The exposi- 
tion of one of these views is given by Professor Lester F. Ward, 
in his Dynamic Sociology. This work, though much neglected, 
is, in fact, the most elaborate treatise on education published 
by an American. The substance of the theory is as follows: 
Progress depends upon intelligence. Intelligence is the prod- 
uct of two factors, the degree of intellectual power and the 
product of its action ; in other words, upon intellect and knowl- 
edge. The degree of intelligence can be improved only in- 
directly, through observation of the laws of heredity and the 
influence of environment, or through the process of acrjuiring 
knowledge. The extent of knowledge can be increased directly; 
hence from both points of view the function of education is to 
increase knowledge. The indirect means for the increase of 
intellectual power, that is, selection and rational change of en- 
vironment, have been at work for generations, with the result 
that the amount of useful loiowledge possessed by the average 
mind is far below its intellectual capacity. Thus the degree of 
intelligence is correspondingly below what it might be, and the 
great educational need, from the social point of view, is the 
more thorough dissemination of the great body of valuable 



The dynamic 
or changing 
standards of 
conduct 



A variety of 
views 



(i) Educa- 
tion as the 
dissemina- 
tion of 
knowledge 



This view 
presented in 
Ward's 
Dynamic 
Sociology 



Tf^S Bi'ief Course in the History of Education 

knowledge already extant. Individual interest will care for the 
origination of knowledge. Such discovery is easier and more 
rapid than any increase of intellectual power can be. 

Thus education becomes a most important social function. 
It should be controlled by the state and not by private parties. 
It should concern itself chiefly with the dissemination of knowl- 
edge, for upon this depends the general intelligence, and upon 
general intelligence, in turn, depends social progress and happi- 
ness. But the final relationship of education to society is not 
yet clearly revealed. The highest social process is that of 
" sociocracy," — the rational control and direction of society 
by itself to reach certain determined and valuable ends. In 
other words, the highest form of social control and direction is 
"politics," though politics in a sense as yet hardly realized. 
Education, as the dissemination of knowledge, which will serve 
as a basis for this highly rationalized social process, — that 
through which all others are obtained, — thus becomes the 
most immediate means to that end. 

This scientilic and abstract thought comes to essentially the 
same position formulated by the common thought in terms of 
"preparation for citizenship." In formal terms education is 
defined "as a system for extending to all members of society 
such of the extant knowledge of the world as may be deemed 
most important." 

A second of these general sociological views considers edu- 
cation as a means of social control. Society in the past has 
relied chiefly upon the government with its direct means of 
control through force, and the Church with its indirect means 
of control through beliefs, ideas, ceremonies, rewards and 
punishments of immaterial character. Society now comes to 
depend more and more upon the indirect means of control 
exercised upon the coming generation through the school. This 
indirect means is far more economical than the direct means, 
since it depends so largely upon mere suggestion exercised by 
teachers rather than upon a force which rouses opposition. It 



The Sociological Tendency in Education 379 

is more economical than when exercised wholly by the Church, 
in that it is largely intellectual and rational, and thus, through 
the self-interest and rational enlightenment of the individual, 
prepares directly for activities valuable from the general social 
point of view. 

From this point of view, moral motives would be more em- 
phasized than ever. But they would be moral motives of a 
different character. As education in the hands of the parent 
sought to control the child for the sake of his practical success 
in life ; and the education of the Church to control him for the 
sake of the organization and for his own eternal salvation; so 
the education of the state seeks to control the child for the sake 
of the welfare of society, which includes the individual and his 
fellows as well. Thus as a form of control, education is merely 
an instrument of society similar to law, to police force, to reli- 
gion and the Church, to organized pubhc opinion, and to various 
institutional customs and traditions. But as such it operates in 
a peculiar way, not directly by force, but indirectly through the 
suggestive power of ideas and through the impartation of knowl- 
edge ; not immediately upon the adult, but through the medium 
of a coming generation. 

A third estimate of the function of education from the socio- (3) Educa- 
logical point of view is a much more fundamental one. Sug- tio"asthe 

. . . , " process of the 

gested in this meaning by social philosophers from the time of "social 
the Greeks, it was first given modern statement by Francis ^^^'^" 
Bacon. He emphasized the importance of the study of tradi- 
tion, — the transmission from one generation to the next of the 
substance of the learning and culture of the past. From this 
point of view education, in modern sociological theory, becomes 
the "effort to preserve the continuity and to secure the growth 
of common tradition." ^ Since the "social mind" or this com- 
mon tradition or summary of human experience exists only in 

* Vincent, The Social Mind and Education, p. 91. Chapter IV of this work 
gives the brief presentation of this entire theory, as summarized in the para- 
graph above. 



380 Brief Course in the History of Education 

the mind of individuals, such continuity can be preserved and 
development secured only "by preparing the young gradually 
to appropriate the collective tradition in general and by train- 
ing a few minds to receive and elaborate its various highly 
specialized divisions," Without this inheritance of racial ex- 
perience by participation in social institutions, the individual 
becomes an abstraction. There is no social mind, it is true, 
aside from the individual minds which collectively constitute it; 
but, on the other hand, there can be no individual mind save 
as it receives its content from this social one. Thus the nega- 
tive of Rousseau's idea of a "natural" education is reached. 
This, however, is not a return to the view against which Rousseau 
revolted; but, by a completion of the circle of thought, it is a 
compromise of the two extreme views in a conception which 
rejects both the unchecked individualism of the one and the 
unlimited dominance of authority of the other. The individual 
is educated, or he develops, by incorporating within his own 
experience the summarized achievements of the race; social 
stability is secured by this same process and social progress 
through the modification of tradition and shght increment which 
the individual may furnish it. Thus it is not to a fixed but to 
a constantly changing environment that the individual is ad- 
justed. This is the fundamental characteristic of modern edu- 
cation. For it is because the thought and institutional as well 
as the natural environment is constantly changing that the in- 
dividual, in adjusting himself to it as perfectly as the adult 
generation can secure, must preserve and develop his own in- 
dividuality. It is the power of adjustment to a changing 
environment, not the fixed adjustment in itself, that modern 
education seeks to secure for the individual as its highest 
product. 

Thus is suggested the fourth and highest aspect of the socio- 
logical interpretation of education. Education becomes the 
most advanced phase of evolutionary process, or at least its 
most advanced method. The most general aspect of the theory 



The Sociological Tendency in Education 381 

of evolution is that vast uninterrupted and eternal forces of 
development obtain throughout all nature, and that all phe- 
nomena, physical and mental, are subject to law. In the more 
specific sense, organic evolution is that adaptation of organic 
life to its environment which is secured for the most part through 
the process of natural selection. Human evolution is such self- 
adaptation of the human race to its environment as results in 
development. With this stage of evolution the institutional 
aspect of environment is most important and social selection is 
of greater functional significance than natural. However, so far 
as the race as a whole is concerned, such development has been 
largely unconscious. That is, since the social consciousness 
rather seeks to prevent change, social progress has resulted for 
the most part through the conscious effort of the individual to 
secure for himself some advantage which is not permitted or, 
at least, not consciously given by society. The highest form of 
social selection is attained when society becomes conscious of 
the aim — a given social status — and of the process through 
which the desired results are to be secured. Since the group 
has now conceived definite ends and a definite method of pro- 
cedure through which it shapes the character of its constituent 
members and thus affects its own well-being, the process is a 
self-conscious one on the part of the group as well as on the 
part of individuals. Though chiefly of a negative character, 
legislation in general is such a method. The great positive Education 
method developed by modern society for effecting these pur- t^e method 
poses is public education. Education thus becomes for the evolution 
social world what natural selection is for the subhuman world, 
— the chief factor in the process of evolution.* 

PHILANTHROPIC-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS FOR EDU- 
CATION. — The growth of the systems of public schools, now 
supported by all advanced nations, has been along two lines 
of development, or rather through two successive stages. The 

' For further development of this thesis, see Ward, Mackenzie, Vincent, 
Howerth, and Davidson. 



382 Brief Course in the History of Education 

first of these was the stage in which schools were supplied 
chiefly by private voluntary enterprise, from motives of religious 
and philanthropic character. While leaving the management 
in private or in quasi-public control, the state contributed to 
these very generally. The second of these stages is that in 
which the political and economic bearing of education receives 
general recognition and the state accepts the responsibihty for 
general education of all of the people as one of the functions of 
government. The importance of this philanthropic stage varied 
with different countries. The more prominent of the philan- 
thropic-religious school movements, as they entered as con- 
stituent elements into the formation of our own public school 
system, deserve notice. 

Philanthropic-Educational Movement originatuig among the 
German Peoples. — Mention has already been made of the vari- 
ous philanthropic institutions founded by Francke at Halle, 
beginning with 1694. These developed into training schools 
for teachers, educational institutions of a practical character for 
orphans, and finally into the ym/-schools of the German states. 
The philanthropic movement under Basedow which, beginning 
with private institutions, led through the training of teachers 
and the production of a voluminous literature to the introduc- 
tion of a study of natural phenomena, of more agreeable methods, 
and of a new and better spirit into the schoolroom, has also been 
noticed. Similarly the Pestalozzian movement had its philan- 
thropic aspect. This aspect of the work was carried on by 
Emanuel von Fellenberg (1771-1844). 

The Monitorial System of Bell and Lancaster. — In 1797 Dr. 
Andrew Bell introduced into England the system of using the 
older boys for the instruction of the younger, which he had 
previously employed in an orphan asylum. By him, and 
especially by Joseph Lancaster (i 778-1838), the system was 
developed until it became for England a somewhat inadequate 
substitute for a national system of schools. Through the use 
of a few conduct monitors and a sufficient number of teaching 




A Lancasterian Monitorial School with Recitation Semicircles 
AND Lesson Boards arranged around the Room 




A Monitorial School in urKRAiioN 
From the Manual of the Georgetown (Md.) Schools (1817) 



The Sociological Tendency in Education 383 

monitors drawn from the more advanced students, and through 

a detailed system of organization and of method, it was possible 

for one teacher to direct a large number of pupils. With One teacher 

Lancaster the ideal, which he himself reached before he was f°'^ ^T^T^ 

' hundred 

twenty years of age, was for one teacher to control a school of children 
one thousand boys. Thus in the absence of any willingness on 
the part of the people adequately to support schools, with the made pos- 
government opposed on principle to contributing for such pur- schoo^Tin 
poses, and with the religious bodies wholly unable to cope with cities; 
the needs of the times, the monitorial system made possible 
some general attention to public education. The Bell system 
found little or no footing in America, since it was connected 
wholly with the Church of England schools. The great service 
which the Lancasterian system rendered in our own country first as 
was in accustoming the people to schools for the masses of the ins^[tutions 
people, to contributing to their support as individuals, and in 
gradually educating the people to look upon education as a 
function of the state. In addition to this it introduced a better 
system of grading, since all Lancasterian schools were rigidly 
graded on the basis of arithmetic work, and also on the basis then as in- 
of spelling and reading. Hence promotion was possible in one s^*^^^'°f^J u 
subject when it was not in the other. Moreover, it brought in a public funds 
better arrangement and classification of material and a better ^roiie'd b" 
organization and discipline of the school. The great defects civil authori- 
of this system were that the work was most formal; that most 
of the instruction was extremely superficial; that the discipline 
was rigid and mechanical; and that the information gained 
was the result of formal memory work. There was absolutely 
no conception of the psychological aspect of the work and no 
intimation whatever of the newer, broader and truer concep- 
tion of education that was developing on the continent. 

In 1805 the Lancasterian method was introduced into New 
York City. Within a few years almost every city from Boston 
to Charleston, in the South, and Cincinnati, in the West, had 
its monitorial or Lancasterian schools. Lancaster himself came 



384 Brief Course in the History of Education 

to this country and assisted in the New York, Brooklyn and 
Philadelphia schools. In the third decade of the century, the 
system was introduced in New York and Boston into a liew 
type of schools, the newly founded high schools. For this and 
the two following decades the system was widely popular in the 
many academies throughout the country. As in the case of the 
Fellenberg system, with which it was often combined, the system 
disappeared in consequence of the arousing of public opinion 
on the subject of education, of the growing material prosperity 
of the people and of their growing willingness to contribute 
more liberally to the cause of education. 

The Infant School Movement was of similar import. Origi- 
nating with a French country cure in 1769, these schools were 
soon introduced into Paris and became the progenitors of the 
maternal schools, so common in all French cities at present. In 
England the infant schools originated independently with Robert 
Owen about 1799 at New Lanark, Scotland, as a means of 
checking the evil effect of the factory system on children. The 
factories of England at that period employed a large number of 
children that were bound out to them by the poor commissioners, 
at five, six, and seven years of age for a period of nine years. As 
these children were employed from eleven to thirteen hours a 
day in the factory, and at the end of their apprenticeship were 
turned free into the ignorant mass of the city population, their 
educational condition can be imagined. The infant schools 
were contrived to meet this situation. In 1818 the new idea 
was carried to London by James Buchanan, the teacher of 
Owen's school, and soon in the person of Samuel Wilderspin 
found an enterprising exponent who was at the same time a 
voluminous writer. In 1834 "The Home and Colonial Infant 
School Society" was formed for the multiplication of schools 
based upon Wilderspin's ideas. Almost ten years before this 
time such schools had appeared in New York, and were soon 
imitated in most of the other large cities of the country. Even 
where public schools were established no provision was made 




The Infant School: introduced into the United States, 1820-1830 




i London Dame School in 1870. Elementary Schools were not established 
BY the Government until that Year 

'his drawing, made from life by a member of the parliamentary investigating committee, was of a 
:hool above the average The dame had taught in this basement room for forty years and had 
lught the parents of many of the children then in the school. 



The Sociological Tendency in Education 385 

for children of the earliest years; the monitorial schools in most 
places similarly restricted their clientele. In the early nine- 
teenth century the public schools of Boston were forbidden to 
receive children who could not read and write. The Infant 
School Societies found abundant work to do in most cities. In 
many places, as in New York City, they were the progenitors of grew with 
the primary department of the public schools ; and to the present Primary 
day, the independent organization of the primary department public school 
and the sharp division drawn for it in the school building is systems 
but a survival of the distinct origins of the grammar and primary 
grades. 

Public School Societies in the United States. — All of these 
educational interests were promoted, and by far the greater part 
of educational opportunity was furnished, by the organization 
of citizens into quasi-public societies. The history of schools 
in one city will serve as a type. With the exception of Church 
schools, and a school forTjegroes founded in 1787 and supported 
by the African Free School Society, there were no free schools Such infant 
in New York City until 1805. During that year, under the ^onarsdioois 
leadership of De Witt Clinton, the mayor of the city, a free at first sup- 
school society, later called the Public School Society, was organ- charftabfe 
ized. The aim of this institution was to offer educational op- organizations 
portunities gratis to the children of the poor who were not pubhc 
provided for by the existing Church schools. The Lancasterian societies 
method of organization and instruction was adopted. In 1827 
an infant school society was formed for the support of schools 
for children from three to six. While the Wilderspin organi- 
zation was followed, there was an attempt to adopt the Pesta- 
lozzian methods. Within a few years these schools were in- 
corporated into the Public School Society as primary depart- 
ments. In addition to funds contributed by private parties and 
those raised by lotteries, the state, from 18 16, had contributed 
from the common school fund to the work of this society, and 
the city had made annual appropriations. In 1842 a city school 
board was formed and public schools were established under its 



386 Brief Course in the History of Education 



control. It was not until 1853 that the schools of the society 
were transferred to the control of the school board and a free 
public school system was really established. While the transi- 
tion was somewhat more tardily accomplished in New York 
than in other communities, yet every American city, except a 
few of New England, passed through a similar development. 
Public school societies, not always bearing this exact title, 
existed in Philadelphia, Buffalo, Albany, and even as far west 
as Cincinnati. 

With regard to common schools at least, the philanthropic- 
religious period was terminated by the middle of the nineteenth 
century, yet it is to be remembered that kindergarten and 
manual training schools have found their way into the public 
schools within a generation, largely through the channel of 
privately supported organizations. 

DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN STATE SYSTEMS OF 
EDUCATION. — In considering the somewhat tardy develop- 
ment of public, especially city school systems in our own coun- 
try, it is to be borne in mind that few other municipal services 
were at that time developed. Water supply, street lighting, 
street cleaning, fire protection, even police protection, were yet 
matters of private enterprise. When the absence of all experi- 
ence in any generous support of educational activities by taxa- 
tion is borne in mind, it is not to be wondered that the develop- 
ment of the idea of free public schools and the willingness to 
support them by general taxation were of slow growth. In 
aristocratic states, such as those of the Teutonic peoples, where 
the foresight of the ruling classes rather than the general intelli- 
gence and generosity of the people determined the situation, less 
opposition to the development of the modern attitude toward 
education would be found. But a more important factor than 
the aristocratic-social one was the ecclesiastical-political one. 
Previous to the later part of the eighteenth century, it was the 
religious motive that controlled in education. Consequently 
,only where the Church and state were closely united and where 



The German System of education as exemplified in Prussia 
Elementary ^ 



Infant Bchoola 
Yeor of lifej 



hn^- 



Technical and profeosional schools 
li IS L2 Ifi— -ia_ 



If? WlfTIiri" TH IpM ■ miJ3|p 

iilliililiiii 



In which children u^ 
:wo year, of <.,e or 
:ared for during tha 



Dhod.ni) shows COmpJsor, pe. 

6-IZ no e»emp*.one 
12-14 s,x hours doily tmployn 
14-18 opt.onol w.th munn 
oothorites 



ContinuatH 
schools 



Trade 
schools 



For children of the la 
aorinq cloeses.till four years of aq 

Q continuot.on of the preceding 
The course of study in middle 6chooI 

'•ually ternnlnirtes at 14 but sometime 

::onti-tue» to 17 



Middle schools 



^Bporotory 



Pradiice OS 
trial; condidate 



Tran eitionol 



i 1 fi i IS U 12 Li__l± 



i 16 17 Ifi la 211 2, 



Girls middle schc 



Girls higher schools 



ElcrTicntorv 

6ecQndory but not 
officioMy recoqnued 

The government re- 
fused to grant the girls gymnasium at Breslau 
the privilege possessed by gyrnnosia for boys, 
vix, tfie certificate odmitting to the universities, 
the minister of public instruction saying in 
1898 that the government intended university 
study for v«_omen to be the except ion , not the 
rule The course vories widely and is not yet successfully established 

Teochers eeminariea in Berlin and Gottmgen 



Secondary , 


. 




. 




Superi 




'FuIIcIossicoI leading 

to all focultiee of the 

university. 
f ' 
Lotin^no Greek, leod- 

ing to noturol Science, 

modern languoge and 

mathematics of the 

ohilosophicol faculty 

No Latinor Greek. 

Iffading to noturol 
sci'ence ond mathemot 
ics of the philosophical 
ftfculty. 
admits to the ne«t cic 


I 


n 


m 


51 


Y 


W 


lib 


fflo 


Hb 


Ha lb la 


Faculties of the umversi 


y 


Vorschulen 
the spec- 
ial prepar 
atory class 
es or the 
ordinary 
peoples 
schools 


Gyrnnosia* 


Philosophy theology, 
law . medicine 


'Real-qyrnnasia''' 


Philosophy 












Higher real-echools'*' 


Theology 












Proqymnasia 








Law 












Real-progymncsia"" 






Medicine' 


.... 






Reol -schools " 


Dentistry 




: 








3SS in the gymnasium. 


Veterinary 
medicine 


higher real-school 

^Minimum course for o degree. 
Teachers seminaries connected with schools. 


Pharmacy 




;= 


Secondory ' 

industriol 
















gymnasia and unive 
Chemnitt technicol 


Sitl 
schc 


e». 

ol. 


Sax 


onjt 














Poly technica 



From Hojessional Educdtioi/ in Foreign Couiitiies, i;Y H. L. Tavlok 



The French systern of education as exemplified In Rari's 
Primary schools 



Elementary 



Superior 



S|hcdpn 



ilSfi 



sect r 

.f tl. 



Dn ex.cinn.at 1 1 
slementory 



Mothe 



Exam. for the 



of 3ubl 



afc 



''03 the Creches keep 



the pupils till 3 the Qt leo»t I yearof thesup 



* Mother's schools 

ely admit eorlier 
than ZVi^and often 
keep them till 7 in 
schools of 3 to 6 
classes^the last be- 
coming an Infant doss 

Infant schools arc 
few in- number and 
;onnect the mother'; 
ichools with the ele- 
-nentary or replace 
thern . 



.the 



:ert-ij bosed 
lidd le course 



Technical 



SuRplerVl 
:Cond 



Clpprentjce 



-ior required fo 



is- Technical, riatilono I 



Cor 



'Qix, qnqers^Cholons,Clu'ny parts and ■ 
'Modern bachelor's degree 



admits to competitive exam-i Cornmei 
motion 'Preparatory. 
Odmission directly from polytechnic. 
' ' " Rennes and 



'StCy, 



Polytei 



1^ 



ibqricult 



'Versailles. ' Grignc 

Montpelller. 

Complementary course .National oqi-ic Institute 

P — 

Element ary for men or worn en. j Morrnq I 

'^Superior for men^ Saint Cloud 
Superior for women ^ Fontenay out, 'Roses. 



cfct 
Uncer 



dsond bridge 



nstruction 

nstruction 

two ministries 

condominium 

condominiurn 

commerce 

com merce 

es commerce 

nerce ^Raris 

Tistry of wor 

war 

public works 

oqricultore 

aqriculturi 

instruction 

instruction 



•istr 



Secondary. Uno 


er-ministry 


of public instruction and fine arts 


Su 


perior 




For girls 


|lnf| 1 lals] I2345|6 JDef 


■t o'f se 


con iar) 

:X 

letters 
Dcf'tso 


education 
ichotjls 
ties 

faculties 
perior educ 
Ogreqation 


For girls 


rHormal at Sevree. Prepores for teachiinq 


1 


2 


3 


For boys, modern 
For boys^classi cpI 


Infant :B-e 6 


7 J6 


H4 ! 3 


1 


1 Qd 


nits 
Qd 


to 
n.t 


I to 


Infant Pre 8 


7 1 6 


5 [ 4 j 3 


i 


Rhet,Phi 


For boys, normal ^ 


Paris_,rue d'Ulm, bachelor's degree modern 


Sc.encesect 


For boy 5, normal , F 


oris, bachelor 


s dcgre 


e classica 






|Letterssect|a9 = 



Department of superior education. Fifteen state universities ha 


vefacu 


Itiea in 


Citi 


es as follows 


fPari=,Besan<;on,Bordeaux,Caen, Clermont, )Marsei 1 les |Sc i^nce' 1" 


^=lic 


rtificote 


in science*. 
Joctor d'Etat 


(Poitiors, Rennes, Toulouse. ^ Q i X. 
Pans, MontaubanCprot), Paris, Oix.Bordeou x,Lyons,Rouen Ccath") 


letter". 


Theology* 


•f .' «" 


i^buchelor 


(Par. s, a, X, Bordeoux.Coen, Dijon, Grenoble, L. Me, Lyons 1 1 
(Montpellicr, Nancy, Poitiers, Rennes, Toulouse. J LL. 


Lew 


<f 


4.. 


e,c< see obove 


p__^JPori5.Montpellier"'<-^')BordeauxL,lle,Schooilaiqiers, Marseilles, 


. iMe 


JiCir 


e rf 


^^.m^dwife 
Surgeon-dent 


"** ( Nancy '■'• (Lyons,Touloo3e."""'(Mante3, Penncs. [pharmacy | * 




plon- 
iploi 


pcof 


Preparation for exomination made in free dental Schools. |Dent,3lrf' 


Under Ministry of agriculture. 3 Schools. Qlfort, Lyons. and|veterinary 


Tou 


louse 



From Professional Education in toreign Countries, BY H. L. 1'aylur 



The Sociological Tendency in Education 387 

the Church desired to carry out some general scheme of edu- 
cation, did the latter attempt to develop and control systems of 
public schools. 

Germany. — Thus it happened that state systems of schools Public 
first developed in Germany; that, as a result, the philanthropic school sys- 
phase of school development w^as less prominent there because generaUy 
less necessary and was wholly of a supplementary and reforma- ^^^IfP^d ^y 
tory nature. In Germany the politico-economic stage of school states 
development was first reached and most thoroughly carried out. 
And yet the politico-economic motive, while very definitely 
announced by Luther (pp. 195-7), came slowly into public 
acceptance. 

The first clear recognition of the conception that education 
lies at the basis of the economic prosperity, the political power, 
and the social well-being of a people was, as previously men- 
tioned, by Frederick the Great and other German monarchs of 
the later eighteenth century. It was not until 1763, at the 
close of the Seven Years' War, that Frederick could turn his The political 
great energies to the subject of education. In his General andeconomic 

c< 7 7 r) 7 • motives 

School Regulations of that year, school attendance was made recognized in 
compulsory, adequate training and compensation for teachers ^^^^^^^^^j 
were provided, proper text-books arranged for, methods im- early nine- 
proved, supervision secured, and rehgious toleration in edu- t^fg*^*^^^' 
cation proclaimed. 

It was not until 1794 that the transition to the new basis was Development 

completed. In the school law of that 3'ear, which met with ^^ ^^ ^'""s- 

11 ... , , 1 r 1 • ^i3.n school 

prolonged opposition from the clergy and from large portions system dur- 
of the people, a variety of new principles were stated. All ™^ *^ 

11-11 11- 1 • • • 1 , 1 eighteenth 

public schools and educational institutions were declared to and nine- 
be state institutions. All schools, whether private or not, were *^^"^^ '^^^' 

turies 

to be under the control and supervision of the state. All 
teachers of the gymnasien and higher schools were to be con- 
sidered state officers, and the appointment of such teachers 

^ See Barnard's German Teachers and Educators, p. 593, for translation of 
the Regulations in full. 



388 Brief Course in the History of Education 



Current tend- 
encies in the 
Prussian 
school sys- 
tem 



Develop- 
ment of the 
public school 
system in 
France 



belonged to the state. No person could be excluded from a 
public school on account of religious behef, nor could a child 
be compelled to remain for religious instruction contrary to the 
faith in which he had been brought up. From 1808 to 181 1, 
under Von Humboldt and Von Schuckmann, the spirit and 
conduct of the elementary schools were revolutionized by the 
introduction of improved methods based upon those of Pesta- 
lozzi. 

General revision of the school laws of Prussia occurred in 
1825, 1854, 1872. The tendency of these revisions as well as 
of subsequent minor changes has been toward the more general 
support of schools by the central government, with correspond- 
ing diminution of support from local and private sources; 
toward the complete abolition of tuition fees for the elementary 
schools; toward the centralization of the administration and 
supervision of schools at the expense of the rights of the local 
community; toward an improvement of the teaching staff and 
of the processes of instruction; and toward the complete elimi- 
nation of ecclesiastical influence. While local pastors are found 
in the great majority of local school boards, the sentiment of 
the school as represented by the teaching class is strongly in 
favor of the elimination of the one remaining form of ecclesi- 
astical control. The point to which other countries must give 
so much attention — the administration of an effective com- 
pulsory school law — has been on account of long experience 
almost automatically operative in Germany for more than a 
century. 

France. — Agitation for public education in France began 
with the campaign in public opinion against the Jesuits and 
with their expulsion (1764). Yet at the opening of the Revo- 
lution more than half of the men and three-fourths of the women 
of France could not sign their names. The early Revolutionary 
Assemblies received many reports on education ; the later Con- 
ventions passed many laws. But little in the way of execution 
was accomplished. In 1795 the National Normal School and 



The Sociological Tendency in Education 389 

numerous secondary schools, The Central Colleges, were estab- 
lished. Conditions were so chaotic that little was accomplished 
and this little did not affect the one thing demanded by the 
Revolutionary sentiment, — universal, compulsory, free edu- 
cation. In 1806 was established the University of France, 
which included in itself, practically as a department of the 
national government, all secondary and higher education. Both 
Napoleon and the government of the Restoration neglected ele- 
mentary education. This was left to rehgious societies and 
monitorial schools after the plan of Bell and Lancaster. Public 
elementary education dates from 1833. At that time Guizot, origin in the 
Minister of Public Instruction, proposed and carried into execu- second Ra- 
tion a law which established elementary schools of two grades, 1833 
primary and grammar, in practically every commune. These 
offered tuition to the poor without expense; provided religious 
instruction and reserved to the government the right of appoint- 
ing teachers and determining their salaries. Primary education 
was made free in 188 1 and compulsory in 1882; the present 
organic law establishing the most perfect system of centralized 
and state-controlled schools now in existence dates from 1886. 
Until very recently, however, Church schools were as numerous 
and more influential than the non-sectarian state schools. Until Present tend- 
1882, religious instruction was given in all schools. All private ^'^"^^ 
schools are required to have the sanction of the state. Since 
190 1 all religious congregations have been required to obtain 
authorization and legal recognition in order to carry on edu- 
cational work. The supplementary legislation of 1903 has 
practically closed all religious schools. 

England. — In England, the land of institutional evolution Development 
rather than of revolution, this transition to the politico-economic ^^ a, state 

school system 

stage has been longest delayed and is yet far from complete, most recent 
The various philanthropic-religious school societies have been '^ England 
enumerated in connection with the movements from which they 
sprang. As in many localities of the United States, the first 
public support of education came in the form of grants to these 



390 Brief Course in the History of Education 

church-school societies. Beginning in 1833, after a long con- 
troversy as to whether the government had any right at all to 
interfere in connection with education, the English government 
State aid to continued to grant annually an ever increasing amount to the 
^"^y-^^"^ . schools maintained by the National Society and the British and 

schools since -' -' 

1833 Foreign School Societies. These grants were used chiefly for 

the erection of schoolhouses and upon condition of the right of 
government inspection. In practice none but clergymen were 
appointed inspectors; moreover, schools were required by law 
to give instruction in religion. As a result of parliamentary 
grants, teachers' training colleges were opened in connection 
with these societies in 184 1 and 1844. Grants for pupil teachers, 
for books, for school supphes, were added within a few years. 
In 1 86 1 the system of distributing these grants according to the 
number of pupils that had satisfactorily passed the examina- 
tions given by government inspectors in specified subjects was 
adopted. This is the "payment by result" system, which pro- 
duced a formalizing tendency in the work of the schools and has 
State schools Only recently been abandoned. The act of 1870 established the 
since 1870 £j.g|. elementary schools organized, supported and supervised 
by the state. These are the "board schools," controlled by 
local boards and supported partially by local taxation, which 
must be at least equal to the government grants. By the law 
of 1870 compulsory attendance regulations might be adopted 
by district school boards; but until there were schools, such 
laws would be superfluous. By the law of 1880 compulsory 
attendance under ten was provided for; by that of 1899 the age 
was raised to twelve, and by that of 1900 the local boards were 
permitted to raise the age limit to fourteen. These two systems 
of state or "board schools" and church or "voluntary schools" 
remained side by side until 1903. 

In 1902 there were 5878 board schools with 38,395 teachers, 
to 14,275 voluntary schools with 29,283 teachers. The law of 
1903 gave support to the voluntary or church schools from the 
local rates and thus unified the system. The opposition of the 



The Sociological Tendency in Education 391 

people to such compulsory state support of church schools pre- Pi 
cipitated a violent political conflict and largely contributed to !? 
the overthrow of the conservative government responsible for ed 
the law. In 1906 a bill was introduced providing for local 
political control of all schools, with minority representation for 
the ecclesiastical organizations contributing a part of the school 
support for denominational religious teaching in schools where 
three- fourths of the patrons demand it, and for unsectarian 
religious instruction in all schools. 

The United States. Early Free Schools. — Many of the early Pi 
New England schools received their support from a variety of ^^ 
sources, such as the sale or rental of public lands, rental from lai 

frr 

fish weirs, from ferries, from bequest and private gift, from sub- g^^ 
scription, from local rates, and in nearly all cases from tuition ceu. 
of students. Wherever in the colonies it was customary for the 
local or colonial government to assist schools by grants or by 
taxes, it was also customary for the schoolmaster to supplement 
this small allowance by tuition charges regulated for the most 
part by common custom. As the schools estabhshed by the 
towns required some previous training on the part of those 
entering them, usually the knowledge of the alphabet or the 
ability to read, "dame schools" of a most rudimentary charac- 
ter sprang up in great numbers. The government of the New 
England towns was a pure democracy, and the control of schools 
remained for a long time in the hands of the town meeting itself. 
Only gradually were powers delegated first to the selectmen 
and then, in the eighteenth century, to a school committee. 
Then the necessity for tuition fees from the pupil was replaced 
by a more generous assessment upon the town. Thus it hap- tik 
pened that in Massachusetts by the middle of the eighteenth ^*' 
century, and in other New England commonwealths shortly bef( 
afterward, elementary schools were for the most part free. -^^^ 
These early systems of public or free schools were largely due 
to the religious devotion of the New England people and to the 
practical identity of Church and state. 



392 Brief Course in the History of Education 

e The Educational Revival 0} the Early Nineteenth Century. — ■ 
With the decline of the rehgious fervor and of the unanimity 
of rehgious behef in the later eighteenth century, interest in 
education declined also. The Latin grammar schools disap- 
peared ; private schools — the academies — took their place ; 
and the elementary schools became more minutely subdivided 
and less generously supported. The establishment of schools 
upon a politico-economic basis was a growth of the nineteenth 
century. Although this transition went on during the entire 
half century, it was concentrated in the period from 1835 to 
1850, to which has been given the name of its leading agitator, 
Horace Mann (i 796-1859). Since schools were very generally 
supported by local taxation in Massachusetts, the reforms striven 
for by Mann as secretary of the Massachusetts School Board 
(1837-1849) were the abolition of the small district schools in 
favor of the better-supported, better-taught, better-equipped 
and more centralized town schools, a better preparation for 
teachers, the establishment of normal training schools, a longer 
school term, school libraries, an enriched curriculum, improved 
methods of instruction, and the building up of a spirit of edu- 
cational enthusiasm among the people and of professional spirit 
among the teachers. The immediate results of the labors of 
this first great organizer of American educational forces were 
most encouraging, 
a- This educational revival was not confined to Massachusetts ; 
^^ there were many leaders as able and some, such as Henry 
ed Barnard, as prominent as Horace Mann. Chairs of education 
^f were established in several colleges. Though there had been 
one state superintendent of education before this time (in New 
York from 18 13), many states now established such an office. 
A movement toward the concentration of administration of 
school affairs began. Educational magazines were established 
and a voluminous literature appeared. Educational commis- 
sioners were sent abroad by several states; common school 
funds were established; and, above all, some progress was 



The Sociological Tendency m Education 393 

made, by the leaders at least, toward an appreciation of modem 
methods and the modem spirit in education. This latter came 
largely through a greater knowledge of and appreciation for 
the ideas and methods of Pestalozzi and of the German schools. 

Modern State Systems of Education. — As with Germany, The free 
there is no single system of education in the United States, but J^gj^'^JleS 
an independent system for each state. Yet the outline and in many 
general characteristics of these systems are much the same. ^^^^^^ 
The amalgamation, or development into consistent state sys- 
tems, was an outgrowth of the revival previously discussed and 
of the establishment of the free school idea. The final establish- Outline 
ment of the idea of free schools in the modern sense of the term of the free 

school system 

was of quite recent occurrence. In New York the abolition of of American 
tuition in public schools was made by law in 1867. In New ^^'^1^5^°'^" 
Jersey and Michigan it did not occur until the following year. 
In Pennsylvania the law was passed in 1837, and in Indiana it 
was embodied in the constitution of 1852. The free school 
system, thus developed, is constituted as follows: In every state 
the system of elementary schools offers instruction for seven, 
eight, or nine years, from the fifth or sixth year of age. In most 
states a secondary or high school course provides instruction 
for three or four additional years. In all except a few of the Varying de- 
extreme eastem commonwealths, state universities offering free f^^^^°^ "'"" 
tuition to all, or to all from within the state, are to be found. 
Varying degrees of unification exist among these parts of the 
school system or in the administration of any particular part of 
it, as that of the elementary schools. The same forces that 
worked toward the development of this system now work for 
the closer unification in administration. 

THE INDUSTRIAL TENDENCY. —The politico-economic Earliest types 
tendency until very recently has been dominantly political; it s^h^J^'^^gre 
is now becoming dominantly economic. The fact that the outgrowths 
basis for this early sociological movement was chiefly political °g^g''^^'^ 
and military can be illustrated by this one series of facts : with 
the exception of the school in connection with the royal mines 



394 Brief Course in the History of Education 



at Freiburg, Saxony, the first institution for the higher educa- 
tion in engineering and other scientific lines was the Austrian 
Military School at Vienna, established by Maria Theresa in 
1747; the French monarch followed with the school at Men- 
zieres within a year or two ; and Frederick the Great established 
a Ritter-Academie of a similar character in 1764. The first 
school for scientific and engineering instruction in our own 
country was at West Point (1802). The first technical instruc- 
tion of a public character in England was the outgrowth of the 
training of naval and military officers, and then not until the 
middle of the nineteenth century. 

Until recently the training for citizenship that has always 
been assigned as a chief function of state systems of schools has 
been along political and social lines. The aim of education was 
to prepare the individual to exercise the right of suffrage in- 
telligently, to perform the duties of citizenship fully and honestly, 
to discharge the duties of office satisfactorily. At least in our 
own country, with its democratic social structure, the emphasis 
in public education has been largely from this point of view. 
For several decades past in Europe, and in recent times in our 
own country, a new interpretation of education for citizenship 
is being given. It is that education is to make the individual 
an economically productive social unit, and hence a valuable 
citizen. Especially in continental Europe, above all in Ger- 
many, has this tendency been long emphasized. The com- 
mercial and industrial advance, and that means the political 
and social advance of the various nations during the past half 
century, has been in very vital relationship to their educational 
advance. England and America have just awakened to this 
fact; hence many radical changes are now being proposed, or 
even actually introduced into school work. Especially, in our 
large urban communities, with great numbers of foreign immi- 
grants, is it recognized that economic efficiency is one of the 
first essentials of good citizenship, and that such training must 
become a function of the school. 



The Sociological Tendency iii Education 395 

On account of the greater intensity of industrial rivalry, Radical 
most European countries have responded more immediately to *'ii^°y'^^°"s 

^ ^ •'in school 

this new demand than have we in America, Of all nations work in 
France has made most radical changes in this respect. Agri- "^°p^ 
cultural instruction is given in every rural school, manual or 
technical training in every urban school. Needlework, cook- 
ing, horticulture, and in localities special technical subjects of 
local interest are taught. School museums, school gardens, 
school libraries, are more generally provided than in any other 
country, in the endeavor to relate the school immediately to 
practical life. In England among the subjects for which pay- 
ment is made by the government and which are quite generally 
adopted are cooking, sewing, manual training. Other subjects 
not so generally incorporated, but still subsidized, are domestic 
economy, laundry work, dairy work, cottage gardening, and 
"suitable occupations" adapted to particular localities. Dutch 
schools include instruction in dairying and various local indus- 
tries. The Swiss provide, either in the elementary schools or 
in supplementary schools, for technical training in every one 
of the industries peculiar to their country. In Germany the 
tendency to introduce technical subjects into the elementary 
grades has not been so general. Needlework has been generally 
accepted ; manual training less so. 

But in Germany this tendency is seen at its best in the con- in Germany 
tinuation schools, night schools, and various types of secondary ^g';eat 
technical and trade schools of the greatest variety. It is in of technical 
technical instruction in higher fields that most progress has ^"'^/'^*?^^", 
been made of recent years. But German schools are of a more of every 
practical kind than engineering schools of collegiate and uni- ^"^^^^J^^^^ 
versity grade, that have been referred to previously. Technical veioped 
schools, offering training for almost all lines of industry and 
trade, have been established. Among these are schools of de- 
sign, of textile weaving, of pottery making and design, of dye- 
ing, and of all forms of practical chemistry. Of a more general 
character are those schools (the Baugewerkeschulen) that admit 



396 Brief Course in the History of Education 

students of practical experience to courses dealing with the 
principles and practices of building construction, the nature of 
materials, mechanical and free-hand drawing, modeling, science, 
mathematics, etc. Many different types of these schools exist in 
all continental European states, but most numerously in Germany 
and Austria, and all are supported by the state. Some give 
direct training in the trades {Fachschulen). Less technical are 
the industrial schools {Industrieschulen and Gewerheschulen). 
The industrial and applied art schools (Kunstgewerbeschulen), 
and more important still the continuation schools (Fortbildung- 
schulen), continue the work of the elementary school along all 
these practical lines. School sessions are held week days, Sun- 
days and evenings. Allied to these are the commercial schools 
of secondary and even university grade. In this respect, as 
in all others, Germany, with its schools at Cologne, Munich 
and other places, was first in the field and ever in the lead. 
Little done in Exccpt in the cases of the scientific or engineering schools in 
the United connection with the leading universities and a few technical 

St3,tCS CXCCDt 

in advanced and trade schools, usually of secondary grade and always under 
technical private auspiccs, little has been done in the United States. 

education -^ \ ^.11. 

Progress is here being made along two lines. One is the direct 
Some city establishment of industrial schools, which will soon be incor- 
schooi sys- porated in the work of the public schools, at least as evening 

terns have ^ . ^ ^ ' '-' 

added indus- schools. The Other is in the modified character of the manual 

trial and training instruction so generally given. This work, introduced 

schools. quite generally since 1885, first in the secondary schools of our 

•^^"d ^^r lo-rger cities and recently in the elementary grades of many of 

manual them, was first largely a training in processes of construction, 

training m analyzed into its parts. Its obiect for the most part was to 

both elemen- ^ •' '■ •' '^ 

tary and train the senses and to develop the power to work with objective 
secondary material. More recently still there prevailed the idea of Sloyd 

grades j f j 

work, appealing to the interests of the child through the con- 
struction of a completed object and of something useful or 
ornamental in the home. But the present tendency seems to 
be definitely toward training in trade and craft processes. 



The Sociological Tendency in Educatio7i 397 

Thus through the subject of nature study, study of agricul- 
ture, sewing, manual training in the grades; through com- 
mercial high schools, trade schools as yet supported by philan- 
thropic enterprise, commercial and industrial courses in high 
schools, evening schools, manual training high schools, in the 
secondary field; through colleges of commerce and schools of 
applied sciences, either initiated or projected in the higher fields, 
the educational system of the United States is responding to this 
most recent social demand upon education which has already 
such remarkable response in European countries. 

Thus is the politico-economic tendency shifting from the Relation of 
political to the economic basis in education. The significance the^iodem 

. . .... philosophy 

of the Froebelian philosophy of education in placing such in- tothiseco- 
dustrial and constructive work on a rational pedagogical basis °g°?nkai 
has been mentioned (p. 339). This offers the chief explana- tendency. 
tion of the fact that it is the Froebelian idea of education that 
is coming to prevail in the present. 



SUMMARY 

From the sociological view-point, education is the process of securing 
the stability and the betterment of society. The sociological view empha- 
sizes the importance of a proper selection of educational subject-matter 
as a chief means of preparing the individual for proper social life and has 
resulted in making education universal and free. All those who led in the 
practical aspect of the psychological tendency, contributed to the socio- 
logical view in their emphasis upon the moral or social aim in education. 
Pestalozzi and Froebel especially looked upon education as the means for 
social betterment. Those who led in the scientific movement also con- 
tributed to the sociological tendency in insisting that new material should 
be introduced into the curriculum and that education should meet the needs 
of modern life. The advanced statesmen of the late eighteenth and early 
nineteenth century saw the relation of education to political and national 
welfare. Many of them recognized that the perpetuity of the new form 
of democratic government depended upon the education of the masses. 
During the nineteenth century, social and political thought and practice 
has been revolutionized with resulting changes in education. One of the 
earliest forms of this sociological interpretation agreed with the general 



39^ Brief Course in the History of Education 

scientific view in considering the function of education to be the general 
dissemination of knowledge. A second, and more practical, interpretation 
viewed education as one form of social control. A third, more abstract 
view, interpreted education as the process of the social mind; — the processes 
of transferring the result of experience from generation to generation. 
From a somewhat similar view-point, education becomes the chief means of 
social evolution; the means by which man negates the law of non-inherita- 
bility of acquired characteristics and hands on to successive generations the 
accumulated experience of past ones. The concrete development of 
educational facilities in response to the ideas of the sociological tendency 
has been through two distinct phases: one that of schools founded from 
philanthropic and religious motives, and the second that of systems of public 
free schools established from economic and political reasons. Governments 
frequently contributed to schools during this first general period; but such 
schools remained under the control of churches or of quasi-public organi- 
zations. Both control and support of schools in this latter stage are political. 
The states of the Teutonic peoples began to develop such systems during the 
sixteenth century and perfected them in the later eighteenth and early 
nineteenth centuries. While some of the New England colonies originated 
such systems earlier, in most of the American commonwealths they de- 
veloped gradually during the first half of the nineteenth century. In 
England this growth has dated from 1870. The most marked present tend- 
ency in these public school systems is towards the inclusion of various 
phases of vocational and industrial training as a preparation for citizenship 
and as a means of economic and social advance. Modern philosophical 
interpretation is furnishing a theoretical basis for these changes, which 
practical considerations have demanded. 



CHAPTER XIV 

conclusions: the present eclectic tendency 

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. —The educational thought Harmoniza- 
of the present seeks to summarize these movements of the recent *^.°^ °^ P""' 

^ ... ciples under- 

past and to rearrange and relate the essential principles of each lying these 

in one harmonious whole. The_educational activity of the telndendes 
present seeks the same harmony in reducing these principles 
to practical schoolroom procedure. The frequent changes in 
subject-matter, in method, in organization, bring their own 
evils and appear as curious phenomena to conservative edu- 
cators of more stable societies. Yet they are recognitions that 
new principles have been formulated, new truths recognized, 
and that practice controlled by tradition or by principles derived Rationaiiza- 
from a partial view alone must be readjusted in close accord t^on of edu- 

^ •' cational prac- 

with the new truths derived from the ever expanding knowledge tices 
of life and of nature. 

FUSION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL, SCIENTIFIC AND SOCIO- Elements 
LOGICAL TENDENCIES.— To this eclectic view of education ^contributed 

to this eclec- 

the three tendencies in the educational thought of the eighteenth tic view by 

and nineteenth centuries have contributed. In t^pe main the {^^icaUend- 

psychological contributions have related to method; the scien- ency: 

tific to subject-matter; the sociological to a broader aim and a 

better institutional machinery. And yet each movement has 

exerted some influence on method, on purpose, on organization 

and on subject-matter. The most prominent contributions of 

these movements can be summarized in a few sentences. From by Rousseau; 

Rousseau came the idea that education is life, that it must 

center in the child and that it must find its end in the individual , p^^^^^, 

and in each particular stage of his life. From Pestalozzi came lozzi; 

399 



400 Brief Course in the History of Educatio7i 

\ the idea that efficient educational work depends upon an actual 
knowledge of the child and a genuine sympathy for him; that 
education is a growth from within, not a series of accretions 
from without; that this growth is the result of the experiences 
or activities of the child ; consequently, that objects not symbols 
must form the basis of the process of instruction; that sense 
perception, not processes of memory, form the basis of early 
training. From Herbart came the idea of a scientific process 
of instruction; a scientific basis for the organization of the 
curriculum; and the idea of character as the aim of instruction, 
to be reached scientifically through the use of method and 
curriculum as defined. From. Froebel came the true concep- 
tion of the nature of the child ; the correct interpretation of the 
starting point of education in the child's tendency to activity; 
the true interpretation of the curriculum as the representation 
to the child of the epitome of the world's experience or of the 
culture inheritance of the race; and in general the first, and as 
yet the most complete, application of the theory of evolution to 
the problem of education. From the scientific tendency came 
the insistence upon a revision of the idea of a liberal education ; 
a new definition of the culture demanded by present life; and 
the insistence stronger than ever when reenforced by the socio- 
logical view, that industrial, technical and professional training 
be introduced into every stage of education and that it all be 
made to contribute to the development of the ]ree man, — the 
fully developed citizen. From the sociologicaF tendency came 
the commonly accepted belief that education is the process of 
development of society; that its aim is to produce good citizens; 
consequently that every citizen must be educated; that this 
education is secured through the fullest development of per- 
sonality in the individual; that this development of personal 
ability and character must fit the individual for citizenship, for 
life in institutions and for some form of productive participa- 
/tion in present social activities; in a word, that one must learn 
to serve himself by serving others. 



Conclusions : Present Eclectic Tendency 461 



CURRENT EDUCATIONAL TENDENCIES. — A more profit- Expai^sion o{ 

the tiirricu- 
Ixir 



able and more concrete summary of the past can be made in ^^ 



terms of present tendencies. Most evident of all to the teacher 
are the many changes now being made in the curriculum. Such 
changes are chiefly an outgrowth of the sociological tendency, 
and are attempts to make the curriculum expressive of present 
social activities and aspirations. Following this there is the rat 
effort to make educational method and the procedure of in- 
struction more definite, more scientific and more universally 
followed. This requires the further preliminary training of 
teachers and continuous professional study by the teacher and tn 
oversight by the supervisor throughout the teaching experience. 
This, above all, is the result of the psychological tendency. 
Connected with this change is the correlated tendency to closer 
articulation of subjects within the curriculum and of the vari- 
ous types of schools within the system. This is a result of the ch 
recognition of the significance of education as a social process, ^^ 
of the more scientific character of schoolroom work, and of the of 
more general attention to the administration and the perfection ^'^ ' 
of institutions. Hence there is at present a combination of 
psychological, scientific and sociological influences. 

The growing centralization in school administration and the sp 
more thorough and scientific school supervision are the results ^J 
of new economic conditions bringing about centralization in all 
lines of social activities and a specialization in all lines of work. 
The latest phase of this tendency to specialization is revealed 
in all the professions, among them that of teaching. This re 
results in another tendency, — the recognition of teaching as a ^ 
vocation and as a profession with higher and more definitely fe 
recognized standards. This recognition depends primarily upon 
two conditions; namely, the demand for higher qualifications 
by those who employ teachers, and the incorporation of instruc- 
tion in education and of training in teaching into the profes- ec 
sional work and cultural investigations of higher institutions of u, 
learning. 



402 Brief Course hi the History of Education 

la- One of the present tendencies gives rise to a new educational 
problem, and at the same time solves an old one. The complete 
the secularization of schools has led to the complete exclusion of 
religious elements in public education, and the very general 
f exclusion of the study or even the use of the Bible and of all 
°"^ religious literature. Thus the material that a few generations 
' ago furnished the sole content of elementary education is now 
entirely excluded and the problem of religious education is 
presented. Little attempt at solution is being made and little 
interest seems to be aroused. The problem for the public 
school teacher comes to be quite similar to that presented by 
the Greek philosophers, to produce character through an edu- 
cation that is dominantly rational and that excludes the use of 
the supernatural or religious element. For our schools we have 
definitely rejected revealed religion as a basis for morality and 
seek to find a sufficient basis in the development of rationality 
in the child. Thus one most important phase of education is 
left to the Church and the home, neither of which is doing much 
to meet the demand, 
of Another tendency is the expansion of the scope of school 
work. Much of the work recently included within schoolroom 
instruction is yet inadequately organized and hence indifferently 
presented. Unsatisfactory results follow. But undoubtedly 
the need is simply for more experience. What new social con- 
ditions have demanded, new school conditions must supply. 
The work of the school can no longer be restricted to the merest 
rudiments or instruments of learning. What is now demanded 
are the rudiments of living, the instruments needed for success- 
7 ful life in complex modem civilization. The most prominent 
phase of this tendency of the present is the incorporation of the 
industrial element in all school work. This argues a radical 
reshaping ( our idea of education as well as of the instructing 
process. Education is to be broader, schoolroom instruction 
more helpful, more immediately practical, more directly re- 
lated to conduct, and hence more moral. Whether this is a 



I 



X^ . 2 /-)^%y04A^^^ ^^^"^^^/O^ZOVlf^ 



Conclusions : Present Eclectic Tendency 405 



he grows into his fuller adult self through assimilation into his 
own personality of that which is, and which he recognizes to be, 
an essential part of the life of society around him. This actinty 
is eflfort; interest consists in arousing in the child the realiza- 
tion of its \-ital relation to his own life. Personalit}- is expanded 
and character produced as this possible relationship is developed 
into a normal and an abiding reaht\- in the life of the indi\idual. 

THE MEANING OF EDUCATION, as conceived in the pres- 
ent, is found in this harmonization of interest and effort. This 
is but another attempt to solve the problem of the indi%-idual 
and Oi. vsociety, which, as we have seen, has been the educational 
problem as it has been the ethical problem, from the beginning 
of human life. How is the indi\-idual to be educated so as to 
secure the full development of personahtv* and at the same 
time preser\-e the stability of institutional life and assist in its 
evolution to a higher state? It is the old problem of securing 
both individual liberty and social justice. Interest and effort 
give in modem form Aristotle's problem of well-being and well- 
doing. Interest, representing the emphasis or the factor of in- 
di\'idualism, is an outgrowth of the naturalistic movement of 
the eighteenth century. The education of effort is the survival 
in conservative circles of the old education of authorit}' ex- 
pressi%"e of the religious and social views prevalent since the 
Reformation period. These views have sur%-ived longest in 
educational institutions that are controlled by religious denomi- 
nations or by certain dominant classes in society, as in the 
English public schools and imiversities. 

The definitions of education throughout this earher period 
were given in terms of training for institutional or social life 
(Chapter IX). The definitions of education acceptable to the 
new thought of the nineteenth century were those ouched in 
terms of indindual development, as that of Pestalozzi (Chap- 
;er XII . 

The meaning of education, as at present conceived, is found 
Jn the attempt to combine and to balance these two elements of 



is to relate 
education to 
life and thus 
secure both 
interest and 
effort 



The problem 
of education 
is the old 
problem of 
adjusting the 
individual to 
society, so as 
to preserve 
individual 
liberty and 
social 

stability and 
justice 



Dominance 
of individ- 
ualistic factor 
in nireteeniii 
century 
definitioDS 



4o6 Brief Course in the History of Education 

individual rights and social duties, of personal development and 
social service. The meaning of education in the present finds 
its whole significance in this very process of relating the indi- 
vidual to society, so as to secure both development of personality 
and social welfare. It is true that for the last two decades the 
tendency in thought, in reaction to the extreme emphasis on 
interest and on individualism, has been to stress the social 
factor. Education has been defined as preparation for citizen- 
ship, as adjustment to society, as preparation for life in institu- 
tions, as the acquisition of the racial inheritance. 

But definitions more acceptable to present thought seek to 
combine both factors and to find a harmonization of them in 
the nature of the educational process. Thus Professor James, 
from the psychological and hence individualistic point of view, 
defines education as "the organization of acquired habits of 
action such as will fit the individual to his physical and social 
environment." President Butler's view emphasizes the socio- 
logical aspect but gives both elements. It is that education is 
the "gradual adjustment of the individual to the spiritual pos- 
sessions of the race." Professor Home's definition clearly re- 
veals this eclectic tendency as including the psychological, the 
scientific, and the sociological elements in our present thought 
of education. This definition is as follows: "Education is the 
superior adjustment of a physically and mentally developed 
conscious human being to his intellectual, emotional and voli- 
tional environment." Professor Dewey defines education as 
"the process of remaking experience, giving it a more sociahzed 
value through increased individual experience, by giving the 
individual better control over his own powers." Here both in- 
dividual and social factors are emphasized and harmonized. 
From whatever line of investigation the problem of education 
is now approached, its meaning is given in some terms of this 
harmonization of social and individual factors. It is the process 
of conforming the individual to the given social standard or type 
in such a manner that his inherent capacities are developed, 



Conclusions : Present Eclectic Tendency 407 

his greatest usefulness and happiness obtained, and, at the 
same time, the highest welfare of society is conserved. 

THE CURRICULUM. — The curriculum is no longer a sacred The cun-ku- 
inheritance, possessing absolute and permanent validity, the g'^o^^of 
contents of which the child must master in order to attain to the racial 
an education and to be admitted to the charmed circle of the ^ifjchTeT' 
cultured. The curriculum becomes but the epitomized repre- enters with 
sentation to the child of this cultural inheritance of the race, — ^^ "^ ^ 
of those products of human experience which yet enter into the 
higher and better life of man and which the present generation 
esteems to be of value to the individual and of worth to society 
as a whole. Such an appraisement of the values of life must Consequently 
change from generation to generation, if there is to be progress ^\^^\ ^^^^ 
in life; if life in the present has any value in itself beyond mere generation 
existence, culture cannot be the same for the twentieth century tion^as^Kfe 
that it was for the eighteenth. The formal statement of the changes 
elements of character must remain much the same; the con- 
crete content must vary as life varies. The curriculum must Thecurricu- 
present to the child in idealized form, present life, present b^r'^g^^t^ 
social activities, present ethical aspirations, present apprecia- life, ideai- 
tion of the cultural value of the past. Only as a part of present ^^ 
life, that is only as it touches the present life of the child through 
the life of society, can it call forth that interest which is essen- 
tial to the educative process. Hence as a result of the his- 
torical studies we have pursued, it appears that the curriculum 
must be adjusted constantly, though very gradually, so as to 
reorganize the old culture material and to include the new. The 
curriculum is the child's introduction to life, as schooling is the 
preparation for it. The curriculum, then, must really introduce 
to life as it is and as it should be; the school should actually 
prepare. 

METHOD. — Method is the process of using this culture Definition of 
material so as to produce the desired development of the child. "^^^^^'^ 
This development must include the expansion of his own powers, 
the creation of control over them and the direction of them to 



4o8 Brief Course in the History of Education 

the necessary, to the useful, and to helpful social activities. 
Method is the guidance of the child in his activities by the 
teacher so that he may incorporate into his own experience that 
portion of the experience of the race which, to those who have 
the direction of his education, seems valuable; that is, suitable 
for his stage of development and similar in complexity to his 
own interests and activities. The sole effort of the teacher 
should be directed toward the guidance of this process; his sole 
interest should be in the expanding consciousness of the child, 
in furnishing experiences appropriate to the power of the child 
and properly related to his interests and activities. The teacher 
should be so equipped by previous training that he can give un- 
divided attention to this process. Hence the necessity of method^ 
as the term is ordinarily used. This method should be pos- 
sessed by the teacher, but it is of most value when most un- 
consciously used. Method in the broader sense requires upon 
the part of the teacher a knowledge of the child; a knowledge 
of his existing interests, activities and possessions; a mastery 
of the material or the subject-matter dealt with; an under- 
standing of the process through which the child incorporates 
the novel experience into his own; and an ability to use and to 
make subordinate the machinery of the schoolroom and the 
technique of the process of instruction. This last alone is con- 
sidered method par excellence^ but it is only one phase of method. 
Thus, in this broader eclectic view, as shown by historic survey, 
psychological method, scientific method, sociological method, 
schoolroom method or technique, are all included and should 
be considered as essential in the preparation of the teacher for 
his work. 

THE PERMANENT PROBLEM. —The problem of education 
is to transmit to each succeeding generation the elements of 
culture and of institutional life that have been found to be of 
value in the past, and that additional increment of culture 
which the existing generation has succeeded in working out for 
itself; to do this and also to give to each individual the fullest 



Conclusions : Present Eclectic Tendency 409 

liberty in formulating his own aims in life and in shaping his 

own activities to these purposes. The problem of the educator The problem 

is to make the selection of this material that is essential in the °^ ^^ ^^'^' 

cator 

life of the individual and essential to the perpetuity and progress 
of society, to construct it into a curriculum, to organize an in- 
stitution to carry on this great process, and to formulate the 
rules and principles of the procedure which actually accomplish 
the result. The problem of the school is to take the material The problem 
selected by the educator, to incorporate it into the Hfe of each 
member of the coming generation so as to fit him into the social 
life of the times, to enable him to contribute to it and to better 
it, and to develop in him that highest of all personal possessions 
and that essential of a life satisfactory to his fellows and happy 
in itself, which we term character. Character in this sense 
demands on the part of the individual a knowledge of the best 
of the past and the present upon which to base rational action; 
sympathy for one's fellows and a good will that will give the 
proper motive to conduct; and a power of accomplishment, of 
turning ideas and motives into deeds, that will make efficient 
members of society. The problem of society is to maintain Theeduca- 
this expanded work of education liberally and effectively, and [g^^of^™'^ 
by more generous support to remove the teaching profession society 
from those competitive conditions which tend to reduce its effi- 
ciency to the lowest rather than the highest standards, and which 
tend to base the remuneration and social reward of the teacher 
upon such conditions as prevail in the workshop and the market 
rather than those which operate in the professions. Based upon The problem 
his knowledge of this culture product of hfe and of the method ^} ^^ 

" ^ teacher 

of incorporating it into the lives of the young, guided by his 
sympathy for the child and his good will for society, the problem 
of the teacher is to develop character in the child out of the ma- 
terial and the processes furnished by the school. 

To do this, year after year, with each individual of the group 
which falls to his or her lot, is the ever solving, but never solved, 
problem of education. 



/ 



INDEX 



Abelard, 135. 
Academies, 250, 251. 

In England, 364. 

In America, 365. 
Academy of Pennsylvania, 252. 
Agricola, Rudolph, 175. 
Albertus Magnus, 136. 
Alcuin, 126. 

Alexander of Hales, 136. 
Alexandria, University at, 77. 
Altdorf, igg. 
Animism, 5. 
Anselm, 135. 
Anthony, St., iii. 
Aquinas, 136. 

Summa TheologiccB of, 132. 
Aristotle, 29, 68 ff. 

Influence of, 72. 
Ascham, 221. 

Aim, 224. 

Content, 225. 

Method, 225. 

See also 179, 182. 
Athanasius, in. 
Athenian Education, 40. 

Content, 44. 

Method, 51. 

Moral purpose in, 50. 

Organization, 40. 

Public Education, 42. 
Athens, University at, 76. 
Augustine, 107, 122. 
Austrian Military School, 394. 

Bacon, Francis, 230. 

Aim, 232. 

Influence of, 232. 

Method, 234. 

Place in education, 237. 

Subject-matter, 232. 
Baccalaureate, 144. 
Barzizza, 165. 
Basedow, 297. 
Basil, St., 106. 
Bell, Andrew, 382 f. 
Benedict, St., Rules of, 112 ff. 
Beranger, 135. 



Boccaccio, 165. 

Boethius, 123. 

Bologna, University of, 140, 142. 

Bonaventura, 136. 

Brahmins, 19, 20. 

Brethren of Christian Schools, 212. 

Burgher Schools, 157, 180. 

Calvin, 195. 
Cambridge, 140, 141. 
Capella, 122, 123. 
Cassiodorus, 124. 
Caste system, 19. 
Catechetical Schools, 108, 109. 
Catechumenal Schools, 108. 
Cathedral Schools, 109. 
Central Colleges, in France, 389. 
Chantry Schools, 156. 
Charlemagne, 125 ff. 
Cheever, 187. 
Chinese Education: 

As a type, 23. 

Content, 12 ff. 

Examination System, 16. 

Method, 17. 

Organization, 15. 
Chivalry, 147 ff. 

Educational System of, 149. 

Ideals of, 147. 

Origin of, 147. 
Chrysoloras, 165. 
Chrysostom, 106. 
Ciceronianism, 166, 172. 
Clement of Alexandria, 106, 108. 
Colet, 182, 186. 

Colonial School Systems, 211, 212. 
Comenius, 238 ff. 

Aim of Education, 239. 

Content of Education, 239. 

Method, 240 f. 

Texts, 242. 
Comte, August, 377. 
Conceptualism, 135. 
Confucian text. Selection from, 13. 
Confucius, 12. 
Court Schools, 182. 
Crusades, 139. 



11 



Index 



Dante, 163. 

Degrees, 143. 

De Oratorc, 87, 96. 

Dialectic Schools, 75. 

Disciplinary Education, 254 ff. 

Dominicans, 153. 

Duns Scotus, 136. 

Eclectic Tendency, 399 ff. 
Ecoles Maternelles, 347. 
Education, as Recapitulation, 25. 
Elective studies, 362. 
Elementary Schools, 366, 367. 
Entile, 284. 

Enlightenment, The, 274. 
Ephebe, 42. 
Episcopal Schools, 109. 
Erasmus, 176, 217. See also 166, i}2, 
Ethics, The, 72. 
Eton, 185. 

Faculties, 142. 

Fellenberg, 382. 

Five formal steps in recitation, 328. 

Franciscans, 153. 

Francke, 249. 

Franklin, 373. 

Franklin's Academy of Pennsylvania, 

Frederick the Great, 373, 387. 

Free Schools, 391. 

Friars, 153. 

Froebel, 330, 371. 

Life and works, 330. 

Doctrine of Development, 334. 

Doctrine of Self-activity, 335. 

Influence on Education, 338, 346. 
FroebeUan Movement, 329. 
Fiirstenschulen, 183. 

Gottingen, University at, 252. 
Grammar Schools in America, 186. 
Grammatists, Schools of, 88, 91. 
Great Didactic, 246 f. 
Greek Education: 

Cosmopolitan Period, 73. 

Historic Period, 33. 

Homeric Period, 31. 

In Athens, 40. 

In Sparta, 34. 

Theorists, 59. 

Transitional Period, 52. 
Greek Educational Theorists, 59. 
Gregory of Nazianzus, 106. 
Guild Schools, 156. 
Gymnasien, 183. 



182. 



252. 



Halle, University at, 252. 
Heckcr, 250. 
Hegius, 175. 
Herbart, 319, 371. 

Life and work, 320. 

His psychology, 320. 

Method, 325. 

Correlation, 326. 
Herbartian Influence, 345. 
Herbartian Movement, 319 f. 
Hindu Education, 19. 
Horace Mann, 344. 
Horace Mann Movement, 392. 
Humanistic Education, 170. 
Humanistic Realism, 216. 

Effect of, on schools, 220. 
Humanistic Schools, 180. 
Humanists : 

English, 179. 

German, 175. 
Huxley, Thomas, 358. 

Illumination, The, 274. 
Industrial Schools, 396. 

See also 393 ff. 
Infant Schools, 384. 
Interest and Effort, Theory of, 403. 
Irens, 37. 
Irnerius, 140. 
Isidore, 124. 

Janua Linguarum, 242. 
Jefferson, Thomas, 374. 
Jerome, St., 107, iii. 
Jesuit Order, Schools of, 202. 
Jewish Education, 21. 
Joannes Duns Scotus, 136. 
Joannes Scotus Erigina, 128, 135. 
Justin Martyr, 106. 

Kindergarten, 341. 
Knox, John, 195. 

Lancaster, Joseph, 382 f. 
Laws, The, 66. 
Leonard and Gertrude, 310. 
Liberal Education, 28, 168, 353. 
Lilly, WiUiam, 186. 
Literators, Schools of, 88, 90. 
Locke, 261 ff. 
Luther, Martin, 195 f. 
Lycurgus, Constitution of, 35. 

Madison, James, 375. 
Marburg, University of, 199. 



Index 



Hi 



Maria Theresa, 373. 
Medijeval Education, loi. 
Melanchthon, 197. 
Millenary Classic, 14. 
Milton, John, 219. 
Monasticism, no. 
Monitorial System, 382 f. 
Montaigne, 221. 

His conceptions of education, 223. 
Mulcaster, 230. 

Naples, University at, 139. 

National Normal Schools, in France, 

388. 
"Nations," 141 f. 
Naturalistic Movement, 273 £f. 
New Greek Education, 52. 

Content, 57. 

Method, 58. 
New Humanism, 269. 
New humanistic movement, 363. 
Nominalism, 131, 136. 

Orhis Pictus, 245. 
Oriental Education, 23. 
Origen, 106, 108. 
Organon, The, 72. 
Oswego Movement, 344. 
Oxford, 140, 141. 

Pantaenus, 108. 
Paris, University at, 140. 
Paul, St., School of, 185. 
Pennsylvania, University of, 252. 
Pestalozzi, 309, 370. 

Work at Stanz, 311. 

Work at Burgdorf, 311. 

Influence on Education, 312 ff., 342. 
Pestalozzian Movement, 307. 
Peter the Lombard: SententicB, 132. 
Petrarch, 163. 

His work, 164. 
Philanthropic-Religious Movements, 381. 
Philanlhropinum, 299. 
Philosophical Schools, 75. 
Plato, 63 ff. 

Influence of, 67. 
Politics, The, 70. 
Port Royal Schools, 206. 
Primitive Education: 

Animism, 5. 

Content, 7. 

Education through play, 2. 

Initiation ceremonies, 3. 

Method, 9. 



Primitive Education: Continued 

Significance of, i. 

Subject-matter, 9. 
Psychological Movement, 303. 

Effect on Schools, 342. 
Public School Society, 385. 
Public Schools, English, 185 f. 

Quintilian, 122. 

Rabanus Maurus, 127. 
Rabelais, 217. 
Ratio Studiorum, 202. 
Ratke, 237. 
Keal-gymnasium, 363. 
Realism, 131, 215 ff. 

Humanistic, 216. 

Social, 220 f. 
Real-schulen, 250, 363. 
Recapitulation, 11. 
Reformation, 189 ff. 

Content, 193. 

Educators, 194. 

Institutional effects, 194. 

Types of Schools, 198. 
Renaissance of Sixteenth Century, 160 ff. 

Education of, 174. 

Educational Meaning, 167. 

In Italy, 163. 

In the North, 165. 
Renaissance of Thirteenth Century, 150, 
Republic, The, 65. 
Reuchlin, 175. 

Rhetors, Schools of, 74, 89, 92. 
Roman Education, 81 ff. 

Decline, 96. 

Early Period, 87. 

Educational Writers, 95. 

Imperial Period, 90. 

Introduction of Greek Schools, 88. 

Library, 93. 

Method, 85. 

Universities, 93. 
Rome, University at, 93. 
Roscellinus, 135. 
Rousseau, 280. 

Influence of, 291 f. 

Salerno, 139. 
Saracens : 

Their learning, 154. 

Influence of, 154. 
Saxony, School System, 208. 
Scientific Tendency, 350. 

In the Schools, 360. 



Index 



Scholasticism, 128 ff. 

Content, 130. 

Merits and Demerits of, 137. 

Purpose, 129. 
School of the Mother's Knee, 245 f. 
Schoolmen, 136. 
Scotus Erigina, 128, 135. 
Sense-realism, 226 fif. 

Effect on Schools, 24S. 
SenienticB, 132. 

Seven Liberal Arts, 121 £f., 127. 
Sic et Non, 135. 
Social Contract, 283, 284. 
Social -realism, 220 f. 
Society of Jesus, 202. 

Defects and Dechne, 205. 

Influence of, 203. 

Methods, 205. 

Organizations, 203. 

Preparation of Teachers, 204. 

Schools of, 202; Subject-matter, 204. 
Sociological Movement, 369. 
Socrates, 29, 60. 

Influence of, 62. 
Socratic Method, The, 61. 
Sophists, 55. 
Spartan Education, 34. 

Content, 37. 

Moral Training, 38. 

Organization, 36. 
Spencer, Herbert, 355 ff. 
Spener, 249. 
St. Paul's School, 185. 
Strassburg, 184. 

University at, 199. 
State Systems of Schools, 387 ff., 393. 
Studium generate, 141. 
Sturm, 183. 
Summa Theologicce, 132. 

Thomas Aquinas, 136. 

University of Alexandria, 77. 
University of Athens, 76. 



University of Gottingen, 252. 
University of Halle, 252. 
University of Naples, 139. 
University of Paris, 140. 
University of Pennsylvania, 252. 
University of Rome, 93. 
Universities, 138 ff. 

Contents of Studies, 144. 

Degrees, 143. 

Faculties, 142. 

Founding of, 139. 

Influence of, 145. 

Methods, 144. 

Nations, 141. 

Officials of, 142. 

Organization, 140. 

Origin of, 138. 

Privileges, 141. 
Universities during Reformation period, 

198. 
Universities of Renaissance, 181. 
Universities under Realism, 252. 

Varro, 121. 
Vedas, 20. 
Vergerius, 168. 
Vestibulum, 244. 
Vespasian, Library of, 93. 
Vittorino da Feltra, 174. 

"Wandering Scholars," 157. 
Ward, Lester F., 377. 
Washington, George, quoted, 373. 
Wessel, 175. 
West Point, 394. 
William of Champeaux, 135. 
WiUiam of Occam, 136. 
Wimpfeling, 176. 
Winchester, 185, 186. 
Wittenberg, University of, 182. 
Melanchthon's work at, 198. 
Wiirtemburg School System, 208. 

Zwingli, 195. 



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